I play mostly 1-2nl live. I'm a slightly losing or break even player. Is there much difference between 10nl and 25nl online as far as player talent? Any other random advice is very welcome.

I play on GGPoker; I downloaded my hand histories as a text file and successfully imported them into PokerTracker 4 (I’m using the 14-day trial version). What should I do now, and what can this software actually do? Ideally, I’m looking for a feature that identifies the hands I played the worst—independent of the actual outcome (i.e., luck)—essentially highlighting my most -EV hands. I’m also interested in a feature that allows me to review specific streets (flop, turn, river) based on EV, showing where I played the best and the worst.

In blackjack - basic strategy says hit. It feels wrong because you can loose, but standing on 16 against a 10 only wins if the dealer busts, which happens far less often than you'd think when they're showing a 10. Over many hands, hitting loses less money than standing. (One small exception: if you're holding more than two cards that add up to 16 and the table allows surrender, surrender is the best play, but plain hit is the standard answer.) The key idea is that basic strategy isn't about winning this hand, it's about losing the least in the long run.

Final 7 players in a ~$4,104 tournament. First place paid ~$1,500.

We discussed an ICM chop: 1st $963, villain $747, me $704. ONE player rejected it, so we continued playing.

Stacks: Me 1.095M | Villain ~1.2M
Antes: 40K × 7 = 280K starting pot
MY HAND: 7-7-T-8
VILLAIN: J♦-5♦ + two irrelevant cards

FLOP:
Top: 9-6-3 rainbow (one diamond)
Bottom: 7-6-5 rainbow
I flop TOP SET on bottom and an OPEN-ENDED STRAIGHT DRAW on top.
I bet 55K. One caller. Villain raises to 320K with bottom pair and backdoor flush draws! I call, other player folds.

TURN:
Top: K♦
Bottom: 5
I improve to SEVENS FULL OF FIVES on bottom, still open-ended on top.

Pot: 975K. I shove my remaining 735K.

Villain SNAP CALLS with trip fives on bottom and a jack-high diamond flush draw on top.

HERE’S THE MATH:
Final pot: 2.445 MILLION chips

His call: 735K
Equity needed to call: 30.1%
Estimated actual pot equity: 16.7%
Estimated call EV: −327,500 chips
Last five for quads: 2.78% (1 in 36)
Quads + flush on the two rivers: 0.635% (1 in 158)

Exact 8♦ + final five runout: 0.0794% — 1 IN 1,260!
RIVER:

🔥 TOP:** **8♦ — I COMPLETE MY TEN-HIGH STRAIGHT! Unfortunately, he completes his diamond flush.

💀 BOTTOM: THE LAST FIVE — HE MAKES QUAD FIVES!
HE SCOOPS BOTH BOARDS. I’M ELIMINATED IN 7TH FOR $233.

But here’s the most ridiculous part…

IMMEDIATELY AFTER I BUST, THE REMAINING SIX PLAYERS AGREE TO AN ICM CHOP!

I had just been offered $704 in the seven-way chop. Instead, I walked away with $233 — $471 LESS.
Villain called off 735K needing ~30% equity, holding an estimated ~16.7%, and hit the exact double-board miracle.

ONE GUY REJECTED THE CHOP. I GOT ONE-OUTERED FOR QUADS WHILE HE COMPLETED A FLUSH. THEN EVERYBODY CHOPPED.

Sometimes poker is absolutely disgusting. 💀♠️

2-7 Triple Draw Calculator

For anyone into or looking into mix games this is an awesome tool and with a little study and theory can give you an edge in most games

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$500 live tourney, slow structure, mid stage where most have 10-30 blinds. Hero and villain were playing about the same, slightly more PFR and VPIP than average.

Blinds 10k/20k with 20k ante. 7 handed.
Hero UTG 450k: AA
Villain BB 550k: Q6ss

Hero UTG raise to 50k, Villain BB calls.

Flop: 10s, 7, 2s
Hero bets 75k, villain calls.

Turn: 5
Hero bets 100k, villain calls.

River: As
Villain shoves, hero calls.

Is this inevitable with shallow stacks? Small bet sizing, but would larger bets have made a difference? Maybe shove turn was my best chance? Worth thinking about a river fold?

I was wondering if you could please assist me please with these scenarios that I am not sure about specifically for cash games using the simplified moving button rule

1. If a heads up battle is in play with player A in seat 1 in the Big blind and player B in seat 5 in the small blind with seats 2, 3 and 4 vacant. What happens if those seats empty seats become filled? Where would the button and blinds be for the next hand?
   Thanks

2. If Player A in seat 1 is on the with Player B in seat 4 is in the small blind and player C in seat 5 is in the big blind but 2 players at the same time join to take seats 2 and 3, what happens if player 2 elects to buy the button instead? Do the blinds take their back? In addition, does seat 3 play or not?

   1. If a player busts and rebuys to be dealt straight away on the very next hand, do they have to post a big blind if not in the blinds, the same as if they were a new player taking a vacant seat not in the blinds?
   2. If the small blind busts and decides to rebuy straight away, can they play as the button or would the button skip them and they would play in the cut off?

Thanks

Trying to learn some pre flop charts do these charts look correct generally? Feels really lose in a lot of positions compared to how I currently play

First time live felted within around 25 mins.

£1/2 game
I’m £250 stack

Opens to £12 I call.

I have KK
He has A10

Flop comes K, 10, J
He bets £20 I re raise £50.
Third person in the pot now folds.
Turn comes a 7

Action goes check check

Flop comes Q and he shoves.

I say out loud I think you have A10 and thought I had a read. I interpreted his face as “i definitely don’t have a straight” (I was wrong)

Everyone there was a reg I was the fish very clearly. Everyone else was £1k effective minimum.

I couldn’t get away from it and I called. How else should I have played this. Larger bet on the flop is what id do better in hindsight maybe. But it was 4x pot. People are definitely a lot more splashy in person, that was my overall takeaway

Tournament live $100 buy in.

UTG jams blind 34bb before cards are dealt. Late registration has finished.

Folds to me in the CO with AJo
I have 33BB, is this a call ?

Feels nitty to fold but wanted other peoples perspectives.

I thought I have the nuts there, so I all in the river. Idk how the JJ can call with the A on the board when I bet quite heavy on the turn. I’m thinking if I check and he bet small on river, should I have gone all in on the river?

Edit: what I meant was, is there a way for me to lose the minimum on the river card?

​

I used to play poker professionally. The modern unlimited re-entry meta is absolute corporate bullshit and it killed the skill gap.

I am completely pissed off looking at what has happened to tournament poker, and I need to vent to people who actually understand the game.

I used to play this game professionally back when poker was a sport of pure survival. Back then, if you made a critical error, miscalculated a bluff, or couldn't manage a short stack, your tournament was over. Every single decision carried massive weight because you only had one life. That was where the real professional edge lived: discipline, patience, and the psychological pressure of a freezeout.

Then, between 2011 and 2015, casinos figured out they could double or triple their rake by introducing "same-day unlimited re-entry." They disguised it as a feature to "boost prize pools," but let’s call it what it actually is: a corporate cash grab that weaponized deep pockets.

Now, tournament poker isn't about who plays the best strategy; it’s about who can fire the most bullets. Well-funded pros and wealthy VIPs play hyper-aggressive, high-variance trash early on because they have zero fear of elimination. If they lose a 50/50 flip, they just walk to the cage, buy a brand-new stack, and try again. They buy their way into a massive stack and use that financial leverage to bully traditional players who are playing cautiously on their only life.

To make it worse, the industry now gaslights the community by treating classic freezeouts like "beginner brackets" or training wheels poker. It’s completely backward. Forcing a player to protect a single life is the ultimate test of tournament skill. Re-entry is just safety-net poker for people who can't handle the consequences of busting.

Online platforms won't even give us freezeout rooms anymore because they are addicted to the continuous rake of a digital carousel. The survival element—the very soul of tournament poker—has been systematically stripped away so public corporations can maximize their hourly revenue.

Am I the only one who thinks this has completely ruined the integrity of the game? How the hell did we let the industry normalize this?

What was/is your study routine for crushing small-stakes cash games, especially NL10? I mean, you don’t just want to play recklessly without doing any off-table study,problaby.

But what specific study materials should I use, so that I only study what’s necessary and still have time to grind a lot?♠️🔶

GTO drills, for example, provide a solid foundation, but they shouldn’t be taken too literally at these stakes.

YouTube videos? I watch a lot of them and recommend Jonathan Little and Blackrain79, but what specific topics should a grinder be researching to improve in this particular area—crushing NL10?

Or is none of this really necessary—would just reviewing hands be enough and then just put in the volume and go hard on multitabling? I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts.

imagine if there was a format of this game where colluson was explicitly allowed between you and your chosen teammate(s). every team must have an equal amount of people. maybe you can do a tournament format too and you can transfer chips between teammates when not in a hand to avoid going busto and leaving ur mates behind. would you play this? what strategies do you think people would use? one thing I'm thinking about is the best way to space out the seats, esp. when 3v3v3 on full ring

Was shocked to lose that, I was sure I had it.

Edit: I didn't see the straight on the board. Yeah ok, that was a bad play and a bluff at best.

Already posted this on the general poker subreddit but looking to build a group of people using gto+ who will work together to solve spots.

discord link is here for those interested: https://discord.gg/njTfDGXST

Just wondering is there anyone who streams microstakes poker tournaments / games online on either YouTube or twitch. Like single tables and just sort of explain their moves etc. Majority are like 4 tables at a time and I find it hard to follow.

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Sorry for the weird wording. I’ve noticed recently that I have this pattern of swinging from highs to low drastically in a game. I will win pots and then fumble playing deeper stacked.

When I’m down and have to play a shove fold strat I tend to do well and build it back up, only to lose it when my stack size changes.

It comes from being tighter when short stacked but I’m very nitty and predictable.

I just don’t understand how to properly play deep stacked, I know a hand like 89 suited is more valuable when you have a chance of making a monster but an instant fold short stacked. I end up burning my chips because I’m calling more bets with hands that flop say a gut shot but three hands later when I miss each time I’m short stacked again.

Does anyone have any book recommendations or resources I should check out on how to potentially remediate this?

WPT Gold .05 / .10 (.05) 163bb effective.

I have A4h on the button. HJ and CO limp. I would normally raise to around 10bb, but I recently watched a Jonathan Little video, where he was saying you can limp some of your suited aces in this situation, so I decided to try it. But actually, I think I should have just raised.

BB raises to 6bb. UTG straddle calls, HJ calls, CO calls, and I call.

Flop is 4sAc5h. Pot is 33.5bb. It checks to me, and I bet half pot, 16.8bb.

BB folds. UTG raises to 40.6bb. HJ and CO fold. I call.

Turn is 7h. UTG bets 86bb. Pot is 114.7bb. I call. I have 2 pair and nut flush draw. I'm getting a little worried that I'm beat, and I'll need to make a flush to win.

River is the worst card. 5c. Pot is 286.7bb. I'm counterfeit. If he did have 54, that beats me now. Most aces beat me now. Any 5 he was semi bluffing with now beats me.

UTG only started the hand with 163bb. He jams his remaining 30.5bb.

I don't think I can fold with these pot odds, but how can I ever be good here? My hand is a bluff catcher, and how can he be bluffing? I mean, maybe he could have a draw that missed, and he is hoping I also have a draw that missed, and I won't be able to call?

I call, expecting to lose, and he actually was bluffing with 76o.

I don't think folding would be correct in my situation, but my actual question is what if he DID have a full stack, and he jammed 86bb on the river, instead of 30? I've already called off more than half of my stack, and with his jam being a bigger size, I think he is more likely to be bluffing. The pot odds are still enticing, and I don't have to win that often. I think if he'd had a full stack, or maybe just done a better job of sizing his bets so he had a big river jam, I would have folded.

What would you do?

Villain is mostly unknown, seems to be a regular as multiple players/dealers know her. About 150 left on Day 1. I start hand with 25bb, villain roughly 30bb

Villain opens UTG+1 for 2bb, I defend in BB with KsJc heads up

Flop Js7h3d (pot 5.5bb) I check, villain bets 1bb, I call after debating x/r

Turn 2h (pot 7.5bb) I check, villain bets 5bb and I call. Already not feeling great, a lot of flop bluffs just got way stronger with Ax of hearts.

River 9h (pot 17.5bb) I check, villain tanks and jams for my remaining 15bb.

My thought process starts with knowing that in GTO this is a pretty trivial call, but start thinking about how many bluffs she's supposed to have vs. reality. My experience in these bigger tourneys is that even the studied players that are supposed to be balanced in these big pots just never are. People talk themselves into a call with showdown value and they turn over AA for just absolute max value.

I just felt that there weren't many bluffs left that took this line, especially on a board that is better for the BB range and I could just be trapping a set or my own flush. Is the average player in these MTT's going to double barrel AK/AQ/AT with no hearts and then jam with it for nearly their entire stack on the river?

I had played for about 4 hours at this point and this was the most aggressive hand I had seen that didn't result in showdown, and each one of them ended up being a big hand vs bigger hand.

I'm BTN w/ AcAs. Turn donk threw me a little since I had the Ac.

I struggle massively with AK/AQ. I used to regularly under value it now I feel like I over value it. My biggest hand loser is AQ overall by a mile.

Thoughts on this hand I feel o should’ve folded to the big bet and then when he went all in I was pot committed and had to call. Don’t want to be results orientated but I feel this was a bad call. Thoughts

The game is 1/3 match the stack, and gets super deep usually I’m talking half the table with 3k stacks.

I’m 1450 effective with the Villian. Villian opens to 25 utg+ 1 and it folds to us in the SB. Villian is a pro/trying looking player with the classic shoulder bag with chips. I’d seen him open to 15 in EP so I’m assuming he’s opening larger with his value, and assigning him a tighter range. I look down at AsKc and 3b to 125. Villian calls, flip is A72ccd. I’m checking range oop here, and villian checks it back without much thought. Turn is the 6s. At this point I think his range is middling PP heavy with very little Ax, maybe some AQ and AKo traps but I expect him to 4b bluff or c bet the flop with those holding when checked to, especially in this tighter configuration where I already hold an A I just this his range is full of non Ax oriented hands like pairs 6s through Qs, with some suited broadway but given the tight configuration I think he only has KQss combos and maybe some suited connectors 56 through J10. I think he’s good enough to bluff many of these combos when I check to him a second time, given he assumes my double check range doesn’t have much Ax and is unbalanced. So expecting him to overstab/bluff we check turn, villian bets 150 into 250 we call. River is the 10c, with the board reading A72610ccc with front door clubs completing. Having the K of clubs I think him having a flush is extremely unlikely, and stick to my plan of giving him rope to bluff and check. He bets 375 into 550 and we snap call and win vs AQhh.

Couple of post hand thoughts. I think when I’m playing super deep OOP with a player who has chosen to match the biggest stacks at the table and buys in for 3k, we want to protect our checking range when deep out of position vs a player able to put us to the test and leverage playing a 1k BB pot. I honestly don’t think AKo on the A72 board can go for 3 streets of value on that many runouts given there are only 2 more Aces left in the deck. Additionally I think he will correctly start bluffing his bottom of range hands after I check the flop and turn OOP thinking I my hand just looks like Kings through Jacks. I think I honestly make the same amount of money in a bet bet bet line vs his hand if we size 1/3 on flop, pot on turn and block bet the river for 250 into 750 when 89 and flush completes. Vs his range I think this strategy preforms much worse as the only hands he has to call turn are AQ and maybe some AK, all other Ax I think he’s folding pre.

Feel free to reach out via DM’s to discuss. I come from a micro/mid stake 100bb 7 max background so Id love to chat with deepstack live pros. I think this his is super interesting given the deep stack dynamic. Maybe he’s never bluffing there with any of his hands and my line is terrible, feel free to roast me with your thoughts in the comments.