First session at NL10.

DrSharp

After grinding for what seems like an eternity, i eventually got my BR to 200 quid. I felt i could now multi at 8NL. There were'nt any tables available so took a shot at one NL10 table. It was a limpers paradise, every hand went multi way. I played tight, only seeing approx 15% of flops. I admit that playing this level affected my usual game slightly as i was trying to figure the standard out. The other notable thing was that i was single tabling for the first time in ages and i had to really try and stop myself getting involved with marginal hands. Didnt always work as you will see with the first hand. :-D

Advice please, i played a few of these pretty badly but for some reason i like to hear it from others. Here goes....

Hand 1.

I hate the limp pre flop. Not an excuse, but this was probably my reason for it. I had been totally card dead, tried to pinch the blinds once from the button and got 3-bet and folded. That was about all the action i had. I think i thought i could see a cheap flop with this hand. Looking back, its an easy fold or raise. Please give me stick for this..........

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
JFP1965	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£9.24
CRAFTYJ	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£2.27
	Your hole cards	A 9
Ronniwin	Fold
JRH2424	Fold
DrSharp	Call		£0.10	£0.25	£10.43
Luzhniki	Fold
JFP1965	Fold
CRAFTYJ	Check
Flop
		9 10 7
CRAFTYJ	Check
DrSharp	Bet		£0.19	£0.44	£10.24
CRAFTYJ	Call		£0.19	£0.63	£2.08
Turn
		A
CRAFTYJ	Check
DrSharp	Bet		£0.47	£1.10	£9.77
CRAFTYJ	Call		£0.47	£1.57	£1.61
River
		4
CRAFTYJ	Check
DrSharp	Bet		£1.70	£3.27	£8.07
CRAFTYJ	All-in		£1.61	£4.88	£0.00
DrSharp	Unmatched bet		£0.09	£4.79	£8.16
CRAFTYJ	Show	10 10
DrSharp	Show	A 9
CRAFTYJ	Win	Three 10s	£4.43

DrSharp

Hand 2.

Hated this one too. Hate the call on the end. It was a passive table and i had seen steal attempts quite a few times on the river. I hate this call. Hero call gone wrong! doh! The other question i have is about the flop play, i think i should have bet the flop, but as i said in original post, i did play cautiously at the table due to it being the first attempt at this level. Can i take the free card on the flop, i'm hoping a little bit too much! Easy fold on the turn! Like i say, its awful.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
JFP1965	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£11.80
dnthrtme	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£13.04
	Your hole cards	K Q
Ronniwin	Call		£0.10	£0.25	£9.26
JRH2424	Fold
DrSharp	Raise		£0.40	£0.65	£15.21
biggs10	Fold
JFP1965	Fold
dnthrtme	Fold
Ronniwin	Call		£0.30	£0.95	£8.96
Flop
		A 3 10
Ronniwin	Check
DrSharp	Check
Turn
		3
Ronniwin	Bet		£0.40	£1.35	£8.56
DrSharp	Call		£0.40	£1.75	£14.81
River
		K
Ronniwin	Bet		£0.50	£2.25	£8.06
DrSharp	Call		£0.50	£2.75	£14.31
Ronniwin	Show	Q 5
DrSharp	Muck	K Q
Ronniwin	Win	Flush to the Ace	£2.54

DrSharp

Hand 3.

Eventually i got a hand. Should i have made it bigger pre? Am i giving players too much respect as i had been raising 3xBB raises all the other times and i thought they might realise if i bet bigger than normal. Do i miss out on value? Should i be scared of the 6's as this guy was literally in every hand? Usually folded to two barrels so i thought he must be doing it with something.

Anyway.....

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
dnthrtme	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£13.14
Ronniwin	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£16.38
	Your hole cards	Q Q
JRH2424	Fold
DrSharp	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£9.85
biggs10	Call		£0.30	£0.75	£12.40
JFP1965	Call		£0.30	£1.05	£12.74
dnthrtme	Fold
Ronniwin	Fold
Flop
		6 5 J
DrSharp	Bet		£0.79	£1.84	£9.06
biggs10	Call		£0.79	£2.63	£11.61
JFP1965	Call		£0.79	£3.42	£11.95
Turn
		6
DrSharp	Bet		£1.71	£5.13	£7.35
biggs10	Call		£1.71	£6.84	£9.90
JFP1965	Fold
River
		8
DrSharp	Bet		£3.42	£10.26	£3.93
biggs10	Call		£3.42	£13.68	£6.48
DrSharp	Show	Q Q
biggs10	Muck	K J
DrSharp	Win	Two Pairs, Queens and 6s	£12.65

jugglegeek

That's a real cooler. Nothing wrong with playing A9s in possitio, obviously you should have raised pre-flop but I don't understand the villian's play at all. He is 22 big blinds deep and the only reason he managed to get his stack in is because you hit a big hand. The way the hand is played I would expect you to have the best hand too.

Batkin88

1st hand raise pre and c bet but he is doubling up regardless when u hit turn.
Hand 2 def c bet to know where u are and as played fold turn bet as im guessing u didnt c bet because of the ace.

DrSharp

Hand 4.

Again, the hero call on the end. The villain was probably the pick of the bunch. He wasnt involved every hand and came in with a raise mostly. Straight away he came across as decent. Again, river steals were the order of the day on this table. Is this too spewy?

Pre flop, i am obviously after his blinds as i felt he would fold quite a few hands as he had only played big cards as far as i had seen. Basically, if he aint got a queen, he probably has nothing from what i have seen. Also, i didnt mind paying for a bit of info, got a feeling i may bump in to him again. Wont do my rep any harm either. Anyway, rip in to me on this..

biggs10	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£11.13
JFP1965	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£14.39
	Your hole cards	3 A
dnthrtme	Fold
Ronniwin	Fold
JRH2424	Fold
DrSharp	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£9.25
biggs10	Fold
JFP1965	Call		£0.20	£0.65	£14.19
Flop
		Q Q 2
JFP1965	Check
DrSharp	Check
Turn
		6
JFP1965	Check
DrSharp	Check
River
		5
JFP1965	Bet		£0.65	£1.30	£13.54
DrSharp	Call		£0.65	£1.95	£8.60
JFP1965	Show	10 J
DrSharp	Show	3 A
DrSharp	Win	Pair of Queens	£1.80

DrSharp

These are the hands i felt i played badly in an hour. I never post my hands where i play well!

Also, any regs at this level are welcome to give me tips on who to watch out for or pre flop betsizing etc. At NL4 its 5xBB. I dont think this is the case here. Any comment are welcome. I will get used to it and start to relax a bit the more i play this level.

Thankyou.

Lambert180

I think you can lower your preflop raises a bit from 5x but with hands you still gotta raise very big with AA/KK/QQ so I don't think you raised enough with your QQ hand, 3x is gonna bring in so many people.

AcidMan27

In Response to Re: First session at NL10.:

I think you can lower your preflop raises a bit from 5x but with hands you still gotta raise very big with AA/KK/QQ so I don't think you raised enough with your QQ hand, 3x is gonna bring in so many people.
Posted by Lambert180

Don't agree with this tbh, there are some better regs and much tighter players at this level who will notice if you start altering your bet sizes so i'd keep it to 3x or 4x, which ever suits you.

The way you described your first hand it sounded as though you're playing with scared money.  Raising to 3x to steal the blinds and then having to fold to a 3-bet shouldn't be a reason to not come in with a raise next time.

liamboi11

1st hand- should always be coming in with a raise no matter if its aa or 910s but the oppponent was always callin and on that board you are never gettin away from it so ul there m8

2nd hand- maybe you should throw in a cont bet see where you are he calls you know he has either ace or 10 most times and you are done with hand unless u hit your jack for the str8

3rd hand- a think ur raise sizing is fine i personally always make it 3xbb in cash games but I add a blind to ma raise for every limper like you done in the 2nd hand when you made it 40p because some one limped, on turn and river a make it a little bigger but overall wp

4th hand-good raisin on the button, I personally cont bet on these flops,dependin on the turn card I prob fire another barrel because most time anyone with a qx raises the flop calls are more likely 2 be flush draws and med pairs but depends on your opponent if they can fold lol, river good call because he aint reppin much and ace high and be good here most of the time the way the hand has played.

debdobs_67

I found at this level 3x 4x open raise is pretty standard , only prob is when in early pos utg etc i think with the QQ hand ya just gotta add another bb or 2

AcidMan27

In Response to Re: First session at NL10.:

I found at this level 3x 4x open raise is pretty standard , only prob is when in early pos utg etc i think with the QQ hand ya just gotta add another bb or 2
Posted by debdobs_67

There's an argument for and against doing this.

Lambert180

Yes there are more tight players and regs at this level and they may notice you changing your raise sizes BUT you should be changing your raise sizing depending on your position anyway AND I'd say you'll be getting alot of your money from the many fish that still play at this level so the big raises with AA/KK/QQ is to get max value from these players.

AcidMan27

You don't have to change your raise sizes depending on position, some players like to when oop, some players like to keep it the same.

I don't think there's a right or wrong way for this, do what you feel comfortable.

Dudeskin8

If I've seen a player limp calling 4-5x raises pre regulary I will defo make it 6x with AA/KK/QQ as I'm pretty sure he will still call and hence the pot is then bigger and makes flop player easier, however against normal players a general 3x +1 works fine.

offshoot

just raise 4x and stop limping preflop like a little girl, no excuses. Bet bigger postflop, like 4/5th pot instead of 2/3rds. The hands are played fine apart from that.

debdobs_67

In Response to Re: First session at NL10.:

In Response to Re: First session at NL10. : There's an argument for and against doing this.
Posted by AcidMan27

This is nl10 a 3x raise can easily end up being a 5 way family pot in a situation like this , ure askin for trouble and QQ more than prob will end up turning from a premium hand to a load of junk , simplez

DrSharp

In Response to Re: First session at NL10.:

In Response to Re: First session at NL10. : Don't agree with this tbh, there are some better regs and much tighter players at this level who will notice if you start altering your bet sizes so i'd keep it to 3x or 4x, which ever suits you. The way you described your first hand it sounded as though you're playing with scared money.  Raising to 3x to steal the blinds and then having to fold to a 3-bet shouldn't be a reason to not come in with a raise next time.
Posted by AcidMan27

You know what, i think you are half right. 

A bit of background here, i got to a BR of $160 about mid June. I stepped up to NL8 and had some good results, felt really comfy there and felt i could dominate it quite easily. I got my roll up to $196 within a week or two no problems whatsoever (i only play about 3 sessions of about 2 hours a week) and by only playing one or two tables. Then the variance hit for the first time in my poker 'career' and it soon disappeared back to $152. I then went on a phase of playing STT's and got it back to $170 before dropping back to $150. I went back to basics and went playing 3+ tables at NL4. Got to $186 and started playing 8NL again, got absolutely mullered again by variance and by some rookie mistakes by me, back to $155. I decided to grind at NL4 to get to $200 before i have another shot at NL8 and yesterday i got there. I was a tad apprehensive about it today at 10NL to be brutally honest. Deep down, i know i can do this but every time i have tried to step up i seem to upset the poker gods and i guess that has affected my game. 10 quid is nothing to me, but i started with 8 quid in my account and i dont want to see my work disappear. I just want to do well and i have had to work so so so hard to get to $200 i dont want to drop below again. It really has been a big hurdle. 

I know i have to keep going and i will get more comfortable playing this and then i will be away. Its just a bit of once bitten twice shy sort of thing. I WILL get there. Just dont want to be down at $150 again PLEASE!

DrSharp

In Response to Re: First session at NL10.:

just raise 4x and stop limping preflop like a little girl, no excuses. Bet bigger postflop, like 4/5th pot instead of 2/3rds. The hands are played fine apart from that.
Posted by offshoot

This is why offshoot is my favourite cash player on sky! This is my language! Thanks, its simple but its had a big effect! lol, your absolutely correct!

DrSharp

One other thing, can the regs on here tell me if i will bump in to these players regularly and how high they rate at this level. Ta.