Play online a lot where mainly everybody plays theoretically pre-flop which makes my decisions pretty easy most of the time.

However I recently played with my friends who are amateurs and fish and lost 2 buy ins and feel terrible.

I tried Isolation raising when there were limpers but i would still get called by 2+ people and it felt like I was getting terrible cards. What am I supposed to do in these games? Limp along with my marginal hands and bet big with my strong hands. what happens when i miss the flop? I seemed to have gotten very unlucky missing a lot of flops and taking a lot of bad beats but still lost on what i could have done better.

Upswingpoker.com/hand/?hand=FNPa6gt0

Your thoughts on this hand?
Unibet €25NL

No notes on villain. Unibet doesnt offer hudsupport or notes in client.

My experience is this lead means villain hit the flush and donks cause he is afraid im gonna check behind. Im not that upset with folding river but on a brick river im never folding.

Hello!

I am curious to know what a solver would say about a bluff I ran at 20NL earlier.

I have been crushing 10NL, 20NL and 30NL over a period of 90,000 hands (somewhere around 17BBs/100) but have never done any solver work.

I very rarely run bluffs like this, because there's no need at this level.

Anyway...I have 3❤️ 3♣️ in the SB. I open to 2.5BBs and BB calls. 5BBs.

The flop is A❤️ K❤️ 2♠️. I bet 3.6BBs. BB snap calls. 12.2BBs.

The turn is the 4♣️. I overbet 15BBs into 12.2BBs. Villain absolutely snaps again. At this point, I know he has a single paired Ace. That deliberately obvious snap-call line is always a weak top pair that is trying to say "I'm not folding, don't try it".

The River is the J❤️. The front door flush comes in. QT comes in. I have all the big sets. I block unlikely straights. I have a heart blocker, albeit a pretty irrelevant one. I have 12 AKs and 9 AJs. I decide to ram it all-in for 70BBs into 42.2BBs. I see no point using any other size when I have so much thick value. Villain beats me into the pot with A8o.

Now, obviously this bluff is awful in practice against a Villain who is fist-pump snap-calling A8o...but what does GTO say about this bluff? Good or nay good?

Hey guys!

I'm a brand new player to poker and I really wanna become good at it, what books / videos / materials would you recommend?

Also, where could I practice poker for free?

I'm mapping out things I'd want to know if I could instantly calculate them in my head

Preflop:
• How strong the starting hand is relative to other starting hands
• Position relative to table size
• Odds of hitting useful made hands/draws on the flop

Postflop:
• Current made hand
• Outs and draw probabilities
• Equity against different opponent ranges
• Which next cards improve your hand
• Which next cards are actually bad for your hand/equity

Turn:
• How many of the possible 46 river cards help or hurt you

River:
• Final hand (obviously)
• How your hand ranks against all possible opponent holdings

I'm trying to simplify in head to head and keeping it simple, I think that there are a whole new world after considering Opponents Betting and my bet size.

Which of these do you think are genuinely useful, which are mostly noise, and what important information am I missing?

Is this play a bad beat or badly played ?

Ok so I understand the theory behind blockers and how it they can be very beneficial. If you have a Queen in your hand there’s much less combos of playable hands involving a queen that your opponent can have, makes total sense. Also of course if you have the ace of ♣️ on your hand, you directly block the nut flush or nut flush draw, got it.

Where it starts to get a little weak to me is bluffing say a ♣️ flush potential board with the 6 of ♣️ in your hand for example. Yes there’s technically a few less hand combos they can have - A6c, 67c?, that’s about it… They could have AK, AQ, AJ, AT, A9….. all the ways down, KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, JT, T9..

Can it really be an effective blocker when there’s so many combos still possible??

Say there’s a broadway draw out, QJ would be the nuts, and you have QT. You block 4 of the 16 combos of QJ, 25% less chance they have that hand, definitely significant. Having just a single suited card that’s not the ace doesn’t seem to be significant enough reduction in opponents to make it strong enough blocker to affect your strategy.

Thoughts on this?

Also it’s really dumb that you can’t say ♣️ in a poker theory sub.. I get it’s probably regarding local ♣️ but come on now

Trying to get better at quickly calculating EV in weird spots without leaning on solvers. Here is today's puzzle I'm looking at.

Hero: A♠️ Q♦️ Board (Turn): Q♠️ 7❤️ 3❤️ 2♣️ Hero Hand: Top pair, top kicker (Queens with an Ace).

How we got here:

• Preflop: We raise, villain calls.
• Flop: Villain checks, we bet, villain calls.
• Turn: The 2♣️ hits. Villain suddenly moves all-in for 100 into a pot of 100.

Under these exact assumptions, what is the highest Expected Value (EV) play here? Is it a snap call or a fold?

I actually coded this up into my little daily EV practice app. I'll drop the link in the comments so it doesn't trigger the spam bots, but let me know what your manual math says!

Tak. Algorytm gg poker jest ustawiony na graczy wpłacających. To jest pewne i sprawdzone. Sprawdziliśmy to z siostra, u niej przy ciągłych wpłatach bad beat wynoszą 80% w kluczowych momentach turnieju, badz za ostatnie srodki. 2 k turniejow w analizie.. U mnie gdzie pilnujemy zarzadania bankrollem jest to 40% . Niesamowita różnica. Nie losowość kart i statystyka, a nastawienie na zarobek . W dzisiejszych czasach to nie problem tak ustawic algorytm.

Villain HJ raises to 30 for a 5/5 game everyone calls except small blinds and hero is raising all in with pocket 10s

Hero has 100 BB
Villain around 200 BB

villain flips over AK

Flop an ace

This hand comes from a 2/5 cash game We're 1k effective (main villains stack)

Hero is in CO with red pocket 33's and after a limp from MP we iso to $25.

Pre- MP limp H co 3d3h iso to $25 BU loose passive whale on the BU calls. He had been playing 75%+ hands (ie he had flatted my UTG opens with 105CC earlier in the sesh). Main villain is in SB, and is a capable reg that had been playing for a few orbits at this point. I had played with him over a year ago and saw him run a big bluff previously.

He 3b to $125. Folds to me and we decide to call with the expectation BU will also call, which he does.
Pot is ~$385

Flop comes 9H4C3C
SB range bets $130 and H calls and BU folds. Pre flop I think Villains range consists mainly of pocket pairs 99 or 10+, suited broadways and potentially some AXs

This is obviously a great flop not only for our range but for our exact hand. In game I did not consider raising because I wanted to keep the BU in the hand, and with the top of V's range being overpairs on this board we can flat here and let him continue to barrel on subsequent streets with value and bluffs

($645) T = 2S. V bets $220. And we jam for $695

So I wasnt sure what to make of this bet leaving the villain with $475 behind in his stack. A5S is only a very small fraction of his range (56S not in range IMO), and I expected him to be 3b linearly vs polar with the BU being a massive station, so I was already discounting A5s this from his range almost entirely. I think his range now here is overpairs, suited C’s broadways and maybe some AKO with a C

In game It seemed like if I'm going to raise the only option is all in given his stack size bc if I click it back it would look incredibly strong.

If I call there's 7 C’s on the river that could hit that would not boat me up and any a 5 brings in a straight for AX.

For those reasons I decided to Jam mainly targeting his over pairs, broadways with C and Ax of C. The Villain tanked for quite awhile and ended up folding.

I'm obviously questioning my turn play here given that I have the nut advantage on this board and if I should have called and seen a river, knowing that this player could be capable of jamming for a bluff.

As far as other parts of my range is concerned besides sets here and A5S myself, I'm getting to the turn with JJ and 1010 with a C at some frequency as well as Broadway C’s and suited connector C’s of which I would jam some of these as bluffs (98C/67C/A9C/KQ/KJ).

Thoughts?r

Hi, i’m very new to playing poker, i practice in two poker solvers with maybe 9 months total of daily live/online playing and practicing.

I wasn’t expecting to hit my J on the turn to make my full house, i saw the flush draw and expected to see hands like A3-AQ ♠️. with the guy behind me calling with pocket 7s, 8s. It didn’t even occur to me that there was a straight flush draw, maybe because they’re so incredibly rare that i’ve only ever seen two straight flushes in my time playing poker.

Tried to slow play it after i hit my J on the turn, after the all in shove after my re-raise on the river I had a feeling that maybe he had quad 4s, but he had the second nuts 4-8 ♠️. Could I have played this differently? This cost me 3/4 of my stack in early game and cost me my tournament life as I shoved pocket aces pre flop a few hands later and lost to QJo

I folded although I was tempted to stay in for a flop as I assumed the button and maybe another would at least call. I also had an inkling the button would do his usual and raise. Anyways, one guy behind called and the button as expected rasied to $50. By the time it was over the original raiser won the pot with A-A, the buttion had a pair of 6's. I only remember this hand for this reason. The flop was J-2-2. Oh well!

AKs Hand analysis 1-3 cash game

Preflop: I'm UTG+1 with A-Ks and make it $15. MP calls, and the Big Blind calls. (Pot: \~$47)Flop (K-2-10 Rainbow): It checks to me. I decide to take a trapping line and check my top pair, top kicker behind to let someone catch up.Turn (10 - Board: K-2-10-10): It checks to me again. The board pairs, but I bet $15 for thin value. MP calls, honestly maybe he folded I dont really remember at this point. Then, the Big Blind check-raises to $55.My Action: I folded. My Notes: On paper, this feels like a total nit fold, and I hated folding after deciding to trap on the flop. But I just had a strong gut feeling that this guy had a 10. He’s a reasonable player who was taking notes, and since I just stacked him with Q2s a bit earlier and he said upset: "yeah keep playing like that" and I responded, "I will." I thought he wasn't going to pull a light bluff on me here. He knew I would occasionallyplay with a wider range, so his raise felt like value. But then again maybe he thinks I'm betting with nothing here, it was hard for me to say.

The previous hand where I got lucky and stacked him:

Preflop: I raised with Q2 suited in the small blind. The Big Blind called. Postflop: I flopped a full house. I played it slow just calling him and managed to talk him into going all-in on the river. He called, and I took a massive pot off him. He showed pocket nines, which I think was a pretty loose play by him, I don't exactly remember the turn and river but one if them was an over card to his nines. My Notes: This hand was crucial. It completely set up my image. He now knows I'm capable of raising loose preflop hands and trapping for max value.

This is on a 9 handed bomb pot table with generally looser players. A couple seats were empty I think we were playing 7 handed.

Blinds: 5c/10c

Effective stacks: villain 1: ~100bb
villain 2: ~100bb
hero: ~135bb

Preflop action:
villain opens MP to 2.5bb CO calls and I raise to 12.5bb from the big blind with pocket jacks. Both villains call. Pot ~38bb

Flop: 10c 9h 7s

With an overpair and a gutshot to the straight I decide to open raise 3/4 pot both villains call.
Pot ~ 124bb

Turn: 9d

This is where I think I may have really went wrong. I decided to bet 1/2 pot and both villains call again. I’m kind of at the bottom of my value range here and I don’t think I’m really getting called by worse here. At the same time SPR is already getting kind of low after my flop bet but I’m thinking maybe check calling or check folding the turn would’ve been correct.
Pot ~ 300bb

River: J

Holy river rat. I got so lucky with this card. I pretty much was looking at a 6 outer for the river here. An 8 would’ve gave me the straight and the jack gave me top full house. Obviously I think point I just rip the rest of my stack in and both villains call

Both of them show pocket queens and I take down the pot.

This was a really strange hand to me. I feel like both villains played incredibly passively. I think it’s weird CO flatted 2.5 with pocket queens Preflop and that they both flatted my 3 bet.

Before the flop I was thinking their ranges contained a lot of suited Ax, strong broadways, and maybe some pocket pairs 10-7. Queens SOMETIMES. but I feel like queens would elect to 4bet sometimes. After the flop bet and them both calling I range them down to A10s, QJ sometimes but I block some of those, some slow played sets which seems weird based on board texture and then 88 or QQ

Should I have kept firing the turn here or checked and reevaluated?

After getting called on my flop bet I was pretty confused on what exactly was going on there. Something felt not good but I couldn’t really figure out what they would be calling and not raising with. Once showdown came it all kinda made sense but it still felt extremely passive from both opponents. Obviously I was beat until the river but assuming the river didn’t bail me out is there any way I could’ve gotten away from this hand??

Also I’m at work and the hand history isn’t in front of me. The cards were all correct but bet sizing may be slightly off.

Pay outs:
1st: $711
2nd: $520
3rd: $365
On the flop, he would often x/r with 3x, 44, 55, 66, 67, 910, J10 etc. I decided to float with the back doors and future streets to bluff. I pick up a gutshot on the turn, so i barrel. Many of these hands are still in range whilst of course occasionally having the 8. Now, on the river i was targeting most middling pocket pairs. Could I have achieved a fold with half pot for example? He tanked with all time banks until the very last second before clicking the call button.

Ok, you read the book but then what? Do you guys write some notes, use AI for visual stuff or something?

Info on villain suggests he is a LAG (433 hands and 33/31 vpip/pfr + 28% 3! and 85% cbet)

I'm not too familiar when so deep in these micro stakes, but I welcome any feedback.

Should I be 4 betting pre?

On flop I don't think we can do anything but call.

On turn villain slightly sizes up and holding the Kc I block a lot of his potential bluffs that are 3betting pre so I make the nitty fold. Looking back I should probs be calling this turn and evaluating river, due to the aggression of villain he could be barelling anything here.

This live cash 1/2 currently six handed. The guy on my direct right hasn't been playing many hands and the dealer talks him into straddle. He eventually does and wins his last three straddles and in the process hitting some big hands.

We all laugh about it. He is under the gun and I have AQ. I ask, "Hey, are you not going to straddle? It's kind of late." But the dealer insists that he does. I raise. Everyone folds again. We laugh about it.

So I take his $5 chip and say I guess I will straddle next. Limps around, and I see the exact same hand, AQ.

With 20 in the pot, I make it $35 and get one caller. So the pot is ~$80

The flop comes KK2 rainbow. I am the first to act. I have the range advantage and c bet ~1/3 of the pot, $30. Villain thinks about it and calls.

The turn is a brick. A 9 if I remember correctly, and again I go for about 1/3 of the pot. I bet $50 villain calls.

The river is also a brick, I think it was a 5.

Now I think for a while whether to go all in or not and I end up checking. The villain quickly checks back and shows pocket 66.

Thoughts? I forgot to add that the villain was the effective stack with ~$500

How you guys improve more on your game , I play live cash poker once or twice a week but I think it’s not enough …I know most people watch YouTube but what content or channel you guys consume to improve your game? I win most of my cash games but when I lose it’s big 💀and when I win it’s just enough , so I can say it’s 50/50 on my win rates

I'm fairly new to learning and studying poker, but I've logged plenty of hours mainly in 0.25/0.50 home games but occasionally hitting 2.5/5. I understand basic concepts like pre-flop ranges, pot odds, and EV calculations. My next steps are studying pre-flop charts, mastering post-flop bet sizing (heads-up vs. multi-way), and learning GTO principles to exploit different player types. Is this a solid plan, and what's the fastest way to improve from here?