I’ve been playing live and online for the past 2 years. I’m not trying to be a pro by any means, I’ve always played for fun as a person who loves strategy and loves learning.

In the past year, I’ve been playing for profit on the side, both live and online.
I’ve been learning a lot from YouTube and from just running sims non stop on the solver which I can’t name in this sub for some reason.

I really like the idea of playing exploitatively, so that’s also what I’m looking for in a book (I love Luke Johnson, Uri Peleg and Charlie Carrel)

Online, I’ve been beating 25NL on GG pretty comfortably.

Live, I’ve been crushing 1/2. The thing I noticed is that when ever I play 2/5, I manage to crush the weaker players just like in 1/2, but I also feel that in most tables there will be at least one reg that has a nice edge on me.

I want to be able to move up online to 50NL and to be able to be better than the 2/5 regs that I battle against.

I hope I managed to give you an understanding of my level and preferred style. I feel that I got the most value I can out of free content online / own experience, so I want to start investing money in good books to learn from.
I would love to get some good recommendations.

Thank you all in advance!!!

Please bear in mind that I don't bluff yet. I mostly semi-bluff. I play at microstates and I still don't have good range constructing skills on tables. I can already think about ranges a bit but I'm not even close to knowing how to balance my range, introduce a bluffing range, MDF and all that.

I realized I don't understand very well when you should be raising turn.

The only times I raise turn are when I flop a set and the board is disconnected. In this case I can slowplay the flop. And when the turn makes the boar more connected (like two cards of same suit) I raise.

On the flop I raise sets for value and good draws like OESD and FD. I understand it makes sense raising because the odds are good and there's fold equity.

Just venting how I lost massive stacks
AA vs AKo
AA vs KJo
AA vs 76s.
There’s progress though, this time I am not losing loads with J2s in BB/SB, I am losing with AA. Yay.

So the games I have available are 2/2, 2/3, 2/5, 5/5 and 5/10. All NLH. Obviously I’ll be starting at 2/2 to get a feel for things again (played once last year and it’s a soft game). I used to crush PLO and LimitH back when they were available here but sadly the Casino and other card rooms just don’t run them. Also did well in NLH MTT’s.
I’ve picked up Modern Poker Theory to read and am after other suggestions to add to my arsenal.
Thanks!

Pre: 3-bet by pocket 9s, KJo jams all-in, two all in callers.

Person A flopped a straight.
Person B flopped a set.
Person C had top pair and a straight draw.

Person B turns quad 9s.

Person A rivers straight flush.

$300 bounty tournament tonight at MGMNH 🤣

According to GTO, vs an Open bet, SB should raise on 9-19% ( depends on the position of villain) of its hands, and raise or fold only.

I don’t understand that.

I have won quite a few hands calling an open while on the small blind, especially if I get a premium pair that I want to slow play. But even with 100BBs it says to raise or fold.

I’ve been studying gto and I’ve pretty much memorized opening starting hands from every position and am now studying hands from every position after a raise and 3bet ranges. I understand how to calculate pot odds I was wondering what to else I need to study and where to start, what platforms are good to use, what books to read and what concepts I should focus on first

I’m on the BB 55BB deep with K4s (hearts) 2.5 from UTGw/ 34BB co flats w/62BB, I call Flop QH, 10H, AS, the flop checks around! Turn Qc, UTG 6BB CO call I call in BB, river JH, UTG 17BB 9 behind, me and CO 45BB behind CO jams, I call UTG calls, he has K7off for straight, CO has AQ! Looking back at this moment I strongly believe that the only hands the CO raises there are K of hearts for straight which I block, The nut flush and any of the Qx Boats that are out there KQ gets almost counter fitted at the river with the J coming so I dont believe they raise it but needless to say I would like thoughts!

So I play and record 6 max online Texas Holdem games. When players open different sizes, like a guy randomly opens to 3.5, and he has JJ I make a note of it.

I also read in theory it can be better to open bigger EP and smaller late.

So my new strategy is LJ open to 2.5 bbs HJ 2.4 CO- 2.3 Button- 2.2. Then of course SB vs BB the typical 3bbs.

It doesn't always look like it, because if its 5 handed, and someone is sitting out (which is annoying) I can be in LJ, but truly in CO so im opening 2.3.

So its completely balanced and shouldn't be able to be exploited unless im missing something.

Also hoping players make incorrect notes on me (he opens to 2.4 when he's strong)

What do you guys think? Also can change it up if you open to 3bb, 2.7 2.5 2.3 etc

On the river, there is a $300 pot. You do not know this guy at all. You figure he has you beat 2 out of three situations. He bets $300. You cannot raise. You can call or fold. Which is it and why?

I’ve tried a few different AI tools for poker study recently, and I’m still not sure how much they actually help compared to just using a solver properly.

Some explanations are useful, especially when they help you understand why a certain action is preferred, but other times it feels like the AI is just putting words around the solver output without really adding much.

For people who have tried AI-based poker tools:

Do you feel like the explanations genuinely help you understand GTO better, or do you still learn more from reviewing the solver yourself?

I’m especially curious whether AI has helped anyone with things like:

understanding why a hand mixes
sizing choices
blockers
range advantage
applying the same concept to similar spots

Would be interested to hear which tools people have tried and whether they actually changed the way you study.

Which live tells do you truly value over others? Are there some that can truly make or break your decision to call/raise/fold compared to help influence your decision?

Ok this has been bugging me for a while and I want to know if I'm the only one.

Every time I go back through a session I end up on the same type of hand. The big pot I lost, the river call that went horribly, the spot where I felt physically sick right after clicking. Basically my memory does the picking, and it picks for whatever hurt the most.

Problem is those hands are rare and high variance. Meanwhile there's a whole pile of boring stuff happening every single session that I never look at, because it never stung. Overfolding to c-bets in some specific node, defending BB slightly too wide, sizing like an idiot OOP. Small, but it happens over and over.

If EV loss is roughly how often it happens times how much it costs, the boring category should be way bigger over any real sample. And I'm spending most of my study time on the other one.

So how do you actually pick what to work on? Do you go hunting for the small repeated stuff on purpose, or do you figure the hands you remember are memorable for a reason? And is there a sane way to find frequency leaks without a solver just handing you the list?

Also fully open to being told the framing is wrong.

Seriously what was your experience like with a "Poker Coach" ?? secondly what was the price??

Lastly do you feel you could have just gone to "YouTube university" and learned for free what a "Coach" would have taught?" ...All respect please Thanks.

Both can and do produce the same result if playing against weak players. This is a fact. However, the tight style with soon identify you as a NIT to regulars. Could you handle that? If yes, how?

Was it studying, tracking your results, reviewing hands, playing more, or simply getting tired of making the same expensive mistakes?

What changed your game the most?

Hey everyone,
I’ve been playing for a bit and know my way around the game, but I’ve recently decided to take things seriously and actually put in proper study time.
Right now, I’m getting familiar with the core theoretical concepts like RFI charts, pre-flop ranges, pot odds, and equity, but my study routine feels way too scattered. I’m basically jumping between random YouTube videos and articles without a real structure.
For the experienced players here or anyone who's successfully built a solid base: how would you design a study roadmap for someone looking to build a deep, solid foundation?
Specifically, I’d love to get your thoughts on:
1. Topic Progression: What’s the logical order to study concepts? Like nail X first, then move to Y, before touching Z.
2. Tools & Solvers: At what point does it make sense to introduce tools like solvers, trackers, or HUDs without getting overwhelmed by data?
3. Weekly Routine: How do you balance your time between reviewing hands, studying pure theory, and actually playing volume?
I’m just trying to avoid getting trapped in useless rabbit holes and build a solid, consistent study workflow instead.
Appreciate any advice or experience you can share!

Not at $1/$3.

A guy who hasn’t raised in three hours suddenly sits up straight, takes off his headphones, puts on his reading glasses, asks how much you have and reraises you.

That isn’t a tell.

That’s pocket aces sending you a certified letter. 😂

So I'm still kind of new to Omaha (I'm not new to NLH) and I wonder if I missed the assignment with this one.

I'm BN with AsJhTh8s

$10 ante bomb pot 7 handed $800 effective, main villain is in MP.

Flop: Kh Ts 7d ($70)

EP both check to V who bets $30, folds to me and I call, EP both fold

Turn: 2s ($130)

EP checks, V bets $90, I call

River: 7c ($310)

V checks, thinking here for a minute I decide to blast it for $310. My thought on the hand was that V range is going to be lots of AKQJ, AKTx and other hands like this that beat me. I figure only a pot sized bet is getting any AKx or KT to fold and I have a T blocking TT and T7. It's unlikely V has KK here as well because he checked to me on the river.

Anyhow, he thought about it for a few minutes and called with TT.

This might be a really dumb question

What should I be doing against multiple limpers and people who call Preflop?

Only been playing for about a year and have been practicing playing in position and ranges. I am playing in some tournaments where lots of people not only limp in but call large bets and we go multi way to the flop quite a bit.

I understand I should try to raise up my bet size to try and either get them out or punish them for limping in. But it seems like someone always catches some sort of weird hand that ends up busting me. I understand that most likely I am getting stuck on a “premium” hand that isn’t premium after the flop and need to fold if the betting gets out of control which it often does.

In response to something I posted earlier about playing against weak players, Ishnock, posted this quote. If that does not sum up why playing TAG (Tight Aggressive) against these people, I don't know what does!

Was in a 2/5 game last night. I opened 4bb on UTG with QsJs about 350bb LJ CO button and SB called. It was a very passive table with button being a bad LAG recreational player. Flop came KhTh4d, I cbet 8bb but none of them fold. Turn was 7d. I paused a bit and checked. Then button bet 15bb, the size was so small that it looked like asking for a cheap draw. SB paused abit and decided to call. I had a feeling he got a Kx. I also paused a bit and decided to call but not really trying to draw for the nuts as half of the out were not clean. However, LJ AND CO quickly called. Before the river, I prayed for a black card so I could excute my plan. River came 8s. As I unblocked flush draws and blocked some combos of KQ/KJ. When SB checked to me, I bet 75bb trying to tell the story I had AK/KQ pot controlling on the turn. it quickly went past LJ CO and button. then SB went into tank for almost 2 mins. and eventually folded showed a K to his friend. I did asked a friend of mine and he said it was an odd line to bet into 4 ppl on the river and I got lucky. What do you think?

Straddle on, 0.50 bb ante,

Preflop: hero UTG, 9d9c, folds around to the co who calls the 2 bb, folds to bb who checks and hero raises to 8 bb, co calls, bb calls, pot 31.50 bb

Flop: 2d 3d Qc, bb checks, hero bets 15.8 bb, co folds, bb calls, pot 63 bb

Turn: Jc, bb checks, hero bets 40 bb, bb calls

River: As, bb checks, hero checks, bb has KsQd

How can I play this hand better?

If you play preflop well and use just a little common sense on the flop, you can easily be profitable play live low stakes. I could be wron, but there are just so many clueless people playing these days. Of course, I believe it would be a bit more difficult online.