I started playing last Sunday so have completed my first week. I used to play Sit n Go's some 3 years ago, but cash games are a world apart from what I have seen to date. My hiatus from poker was purely for health reasons, and though they haven't yet gone away there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
I had spent some time reading about cash game strategy and joining here and watching videos also helped understanding, but there is no substitute for playing I guess and learning as you go along.
I decided to take it easy in the first month, probably playing tighter than I should, hardly ever 3 and 4 bet bluffing. I am playing at Party .10/.25 limits and from what I have seen there doesn't seem to be much 3 betting and such other than for value. My guess is that Party .10/.25 plays like much lower elsewhere, and it seems value injected mostly. I only played 1800 hands in my first week and turned a small $15 profit, not that profit and loss is material in such a small sample.
Despite all my reading and watching videos I found many spots where I just didnt know what to do, never sure if I was betting for the right reasons, never really trying to think of what they had, not really understanding flop textures and all sorts so I have much to learn and realise it will take time.
Im not that sure how to make the best use of study time. I have holdem manager, which I had back in the old days, but no real idea how to use it yet. I have replayed some hands but not sure what I am looking for as yet. How do you guys all study away from the table? Anyway so I will keep at it and see where it takes me.

Welcome to the forum!

Firstly, I wish you the best with your fight back to being completely healthy and fit! I think you're on the right path of taking it easy and getting a feel back into the game. I think a lot of it will come to you over the next few weeks. As for studying away from the tables, I like reviewing hands of mine vs regs taking constant notes of their lines with certain holdings, their 3b ranges in each spot etc. Priceless information it turns out to be as these are the guys we are constantly playing with daily. The others are usually recreational weaker players that we exploit and rarely see.

Welcome to VIP buddy, keep us updated with how you are progressing, gluck!!

Welcome aboard you have definitely come to the right place, we are a friendly bunch and if you have any questions, problem hands etc put them in the strategy section of the forum and you will get enough responses.

As for studying theres also plenty of training videos and lessons that will help you on your way and you may win a free bankroll at the same time!!

Good luck on your journey!!

Welcome to the forum

Best advice would be to really use this forum as much as you can - in those spots where are unsure, post the hand on the strategy page of the forum, and see what we would have done. Feedback can only help you...
Most of my studying is on here really, either the strategy part of the forum or the videos, have also read the odd poker book though.

GLGL at the tables!

Hey there and welcome to the forum!

I use HEM2 (free trial if you google it) where i basically look over my hands and also check my profit and loss. I also use a HUD which you can make simple or extremely complicated.

As a new forum member i would really love to make a video reviewing your play. Would you be interested in that?

Some advice i have is to really take your time. Take an extra 3-4 seconds per decision and just try and remember what the action was. Does it all make sense? What would you do with certain hands? and so on. This can really make a huge difference.

As for Party you have chosen a good site. There is plenty of action and also it has more recreational players. However rakeback can really help you which is more so offered on other sites--PM me for details.

Make sure you post up plenty of hands in our strat forum and also document as much as you can here. How many tables you play, stats, thoughts, even make a video to put on here.

Also our poker school, articles and coaching videos will be a great help (and are FREE).

Yes I would like a video review, do I need special software for that? I only started by playing 1 table, taking notes and defo taking my time. I have HEM1 for small stakes.
I tried to join Party and Bwin through the deals on the site but alas they said I already had an account, though I don't remember ever signing up for Bwin. Party do give some form of rakeback through their loyalty program I think. Maybe when I get a bit better, I could start playing other sites, but not yet.

I have PMd you all the details you need

Thanks for all the comments and best wishes, appreciated!

I have had a good couple of days, it helps when you get AA allin pf against AK twice though!! Booked about $70 winnings. More importantly I have been feeling a little more comfortable at the tables, still playing mostly abc and a little tighter than I should but I cant seem to pull the trigger just yet to play a tad looser. I still haven't developed a 3bet game yet and mostly doing it for value, I guess it is alright where I am playing as the recreational players can still pay you off, but against the regs I will need to learn it somewhere along the line. One thing at party is it is quite easy to recognise good tables very quickly which is good.
I am still only playing one table and a couple of hours a day until I feel I can take on more, which will probably be a little while yet. But I am taking plenty of notes which helps a lot. Don't know if I could do that playing more than one table, still you can do it when reviewing hands in HM later I suppose.

Keep it up buddy! Sounds like a great bunch of wins there. Take your time and dont rush it. Better taking 6 months going slowly and winning than going mental and losing in the first month or so.

Hi - Its been much tougher the last few days but balanced by one big winning day where I got allin twice with a flopped straight, and faded the flush draws. But I have found it tougher going, I feel at the moment whilst learning along the way I can get run over by the regs, also defending bb is proving difficult too. I try to defend bb v button or sb and they always seem to have TP or better, maybe I am trying to defend too much or call down too light, but when they open sb 50% I feel I should defend say K9 or similar. I have not worked out how far to call down with weak TP in LP battles or pots. I am still not 3b much except when I can see from a decent sample that they have high fold to 3b. I am also not really thinking about what they have much, but at least staying above water for now. I feel I have much to learn so better keep watching videos and reading the forums.

Very interesting. Yeh defending is a must and your logic makes 100% sense. I will make a video on this soon to hopefully help with these spots. Any other problem areas i could touch on?

A video on defending would be great Jon, look forward to it. There are for sure many other things that you could touch on but I dont want to be taking on too much whilst I am in the learning stage, working on one thing at a time is good for now.

The last day and a half has been a disaster for me and I didnt feel I done too much wrong apart from one hand. My first 4k hands (small sample I know) yielded profits of $138, the last session and a half of 300+ hands has seen me drop almost 4BI, and I feel back to square one with $44 dollars of profit. Today I feel I never hit a flop of any description so much so that when I 3b bluffed someone I carried it through barreling flop and turn with no pair no draw just air, losing some $13 that was unecessary, mostly borne out of frustration. I know these runs come to us all, downswings are part of gambling in general, I thought I coped well enough with it until the end, but missing every flop and cbetting(only about 60%) and having to give up soon adds up to your losses. I feel al ittle deflated of course but onwards and upwards.....

dont worry mate, that's just a natural swing that evens out a very good start to a more realistic start. You are up, bankroll is going in the right direction, so does your play. Nothing to worrie about
Most people in these stakes play weak-loose. Means they call too much preflop and play fit-or-fold on the flop. Take notes and mark these players, these are the ones you want to play against in position and c-bet the flop against them (in position) anytime.
Don't be afraid to c-bet (in p-o-s-i-t-i-o-n). A c-bet of 1/2 the pot only needs to make your opponent fold 1 out of 3 times to show a profit. If the fit-or-fold fish calls the flop c-bet and checks the turn, you can slow down on a blank turn (check back), or represent (bet 2/3) a scarecard, depending on what range you put him on his flopcall. Don't "blind-fire" the turn! Take your time on the turn and think about what you want to sell (represent) with your bet before you fire. No shame to slow down and check-down complete air. If he checks back and the river is a scarecard, I fire 100% and steal it if he checks to me (this is the power of position). This needs some balls! Don't smallbet-bluff the river! If you read weakness, fire a big bet of at least 3/4 potsize or pot it, but don't overbet. If your hand has some showdown value but you dont feel he can fold, you can check back and see a cheap showdown. With more confidence, thin-valuebets will come....
When you are up against a good player (you should mark them too and take notes!), beware that your c-bet flop/check turn line shows weakness and he picks up on this. Against fish you can get a check-down to showdown, but a good agressive player might push you off the hand. So, when he fires the river after you checked the turn, calling is out of question. Keep it simple. If your c-bet gets called and you check the turn, you basicly gave up the hand but there is no shame in this. I do this all the time in the microstakes because most players are just mindnumb random buttonclicking monkey callingstations that will call you down with all sorts of shit hands. If you got them beat, valueebet their asses off. If you aint got them beat, slow down and take it easy.
Got a made hand? Opponent calls the flop? Bet-Bet-Bet... value is on the turn in these stakes.
Keep it up, you are doing good

Thanks for the support and advice Raphael!

Great advice and will always be plenty of support on here for you buddy!

Whats the steps and plans you are going to take in Feb?

Will be making that video next week!!! Looking forward to doing it myself as a few other members have asked for it also! So must be a huge leak for lots of players.

Not sure what steps and plans to take in Feb, currently going from bad to worse, from winning $138 I am now losing $26 so a current loss of 6BI. I realise that at the moment I am not good enough. I feel to weak and that I can get bet out of pots to easily but when I call down they catch, for example raise AJs utg, 1 caller mp, flop A62, bet he calls, turn is 4, I bet he calls, river a 9, I bet he raises I call he has 99. I know that this happens to us all and I am not complaining about the 5% beat, but I feel in my mind that I dont really know what to do a lot. I know against regs or better players I am not going to get 3 streets of value with TPTK or even medium kicker, whereas against fish or stations I am. This guy was a loose aggro at 37/28 or similar, so if I bet 2 streets say flop and turn what do I do on the river, do I check and hope he checks behind, do I call if he bets, or fold, or do I check on the turn and call down. I dont want to get bet out of pots and stuff all the time, but more importantly I feel I dont know what to do yet in all these situations. Am I betting for value, should I be betting checking raising or what. I have added a little more 3 betting to my game and feel I have worked out my own strategy for 3 betting, but I never raise flops unless I have a set or straight or close to the nuts, I dont know when to raise TPTK on the flop or indeed if I should raise TPTK at all on the flop. I have also found that iso's dont work for me as they all limp call and dont fold on the flop, which is what I thought the iso was about, also it seems that no one folds on the flop much so cbetting is a problem. I havent learn to read flop textures yet, so not always sure when to cbet and when not to etc. I have spotted some patterns from some of the regs that I have used and I am pleased about that. I am just a little confused right now in all I am doing. I do feel I am learning a little bit but not enough. I need coaching but that is out of the question as I can afford it. It was enough for me to find 25BI for this limit and havent more money for coaching. I dont want to drop stakes, I feel that I will give it my best shot and if my bankroll goes then so be it.
So what are my steps and plans for Feb, just to improve a little by little but more to try and understand it all.

ok, first things first, calm down. You are facing the dark side of variance. All you can do is keep your mind straight, keep cool, play the best game you can, and play through it. Take a break if you need to. You don't need to sweat it.

Few things:


I know that some peeps might jump on me yelling "he's preaching aggro again", but if you never raise flops unless you have set or better, that's a huge leak. If you previously used to raise and now don't, you lack confidence. If that's the case -> take a break, relax, treat yourself good, make you feel better. Come back refreshed and crush it
Making adjustments to your game is a good thing, but it's a devestating thing to make the wrong adjustments at the wrong time.
If you nit up and become passive because you fear the beats and coolers, you seriously need a break. Don't let fear have the best of you.

The flop-texture problem might soon be fixed (@Jon!)


This highly depends on your table image. I personaly get the most value out of TAG regs I use to see and play every day. As I gather their stats they gather mine and I have an image that just forces them to try and pick me off. It's just too tempting, because if they don't start to play back I will run them over. Now imagine what happens when they play back and I have the goods? They don't believe my bets more often than not, and that's a damn good thing 8)

Against a loose aggro, your line was just fine. If you check to him he will most likely do his thing and bet (if he is a thinking LAG he will not bet cheap there, he will put you on the test and most likely push you off the hand because he smells your fear)
Against a bad loose idiot there's not much you can do but bet through if you think you are good.
The hand is just a suckout, don't worry about it. It's played and done. Forget it and don't let it affect you anymore.


It is your decision what you do with your money.
But listen to me one time when I say: move down!
Not moving down when you clearly should is a major leak that will lead to busto-land.
You will go broke and feel very sad and depressed about it.
There is no shame in stepping down! Repeat: THERE IS NO SHAME IN STEPPING DOWN!!!
Stepping down is a quality move of a good player. Most brilliant pokerplayers seriously fail on that part, fail to handle their money, and go broke.
You can't improve and become brilliant if you are busto.
Also, there is no point in playing stakes that you can't beat yet.
We play poker for the money (and the thrill). No matter what your reason is why yo play poker, you will not find it in busto-land. Been there, done that, many times.... Don't do it.
Think about it.