5 leaks that cost you money at NL10.
Five mistakes that keep coming back at this stake, with what each one is and how to fix it. Together they cost most players more than their entire win rate.
Most NL10 players think their problem is bad luck. Sometimes that is right, a run of fifty buy-ins against you does happen. In four out of five cases it is about play and not about luck. Rarely is that a single disaster: it is five creeping leaks that each cost a few big blinds per hundred hands and eat your profit between them.
Below are the five leaks that come back most often at NL10. They are here on the strength of how this stake is played, not on the strength of a calculated sample: we have no NL10 database from which to derive an amount per leak, and so we do not put one there. Per leak: what it is and how you fix it.
What a leak costs you personally is something Pokiq does work out as soon as you import your own hands, in big blinds per 100 hands. That counts more honestly than an amount per month, because it does not depend on how much you play. At NL10 a big blind is 10 cents, so 1 bb per 100 hands costs you $1 per 1,000 hands.
Calling too much from the big blind
What it is
From the big blind you play every pot from the worst seat at the table: after the flop you have to decide first every time. Anyone who calls too much there against a raise, and certainly against a steal attempt from the cutoff or the button, gives back after the flop what they won before it.
Fix
Defend tighter, especially against a raise from early position. Against a raise from the button you call with roughly a quarter of your hands, not forty percent. Against a raise from under the gun roughly a tenth, not a fifth. Test: hold strictly to a fixed scheme for a month.
Limping from the small blind
What it is
Everyone folds and you limp in from the small blind with a borderline hand like KJ or A8. You do not take the initiative, nobody folds to your bet, and you play the whole hand first to act. That combination costs money, every time.
Fix
From the small blind you raise or you fold, there are no other flavours. Limping only makes sense at a live table against a passive opponent with deep stacks, online never. Test: mark every hand where you limp anyway for two weeks and review them afterwards.
Betting automatically on every flop
What it is
You raised before the flop, so you bet the flop, whatever falls. On a board where the cards connect, such as T98 in two suits, your opponent often hits something. Betting there almost never gets a fold, and then you are burning money.
Fix
Sort every board into three kinds. Dry and disconnected (A72, K83): bet often. Middling (T93): sometimes. Wet and connected (T98 in two suits): rarely. Train that recognition with the daily quiz on board types.
Bluffing against somebody who calls anyway
What it is
Betting three streets in a row on a last card that changes nothing, against somebody who at these stakes always calls anyway. A bluff only works if the other player can fold. At the lowest stakes people call the last bet with bottom pair.
Fix
Ask one question before every bluff on the last card: does this player ever fold bottom pair? At NL10 the answer is no. Save your bluffs for the moments when the board really changes, such as a third card of the same suit or a fourth card in a row, because then almost nobody can call any more.
Tilt after a lost pot
What it is
Not your technique but your reaction. After a pot you lose without being able to do anything about it, you play every borderline hand harder for the next half hour: you call more often, you raise looser, and the loss grows.
Fix
A compulsory ten minute break as soon as you are five buy-ins down, so $50 at NL10. Stand up, drink water, open a window. The daily training recognises the pattern (three mistakes in a row in the same category) and suggests a break by itself.
8 week schedule
The order: one leak per two weeks.
Do not take on all 5 at once, take one per two weeks. Changing habits does not work through overload.
Leak 1, the big blind
Hold strictly to a fixed scheme and note every decision
Leak 2, the small blind
Never limp. Raise or fold.
Leak 3, the flop
Sort board types, let wet flops go
Leaks 4 and 5
Discipline on the last card and a fixed tilt agreement
frequently asked questions
Practical questions.
How do I know which leak I have? +
Pokiq looks it up itself in your imported hands and marks the patterns that cost money. Per leak you see what it costs you per 100 hands, based on how often it happens and how big the pots are. Bear in mind that those figures only become solid from about 500 cash hands onwards; below that the app does point out directions, but the margins are wide and it says so.
Which leak do I fix first? +
Always start with the leak that costs the most, not the leak that feels easiest. Tilt sits at the top for many players and at the same time feels the vaguest, and that is exactly where you start. The other leaks get cheaper of their own accord once you have tilt under control.
How long does it take to fix a leak? +
Two to four weeks to change the habit, eight to twelve weeks for lasting improvement. The point is rarely that you do not understand the idea, you know it already. The point is doing it while the clock is running, and that is exactly what the daily training practises.
Do these leaks also apply at NL25 and NL50? +
Yes. That is why the app counts in big blinds and not in money: an amount in big blinds means the same at every stake. In money it does add up, because at NL25 a big blind is worth two and a half times as much and at NL50 five times. The first three leaks turn up at every level, including among players who play higher, just less often.
Do I get leak analysis on the free version? +
On Free you see your most expensive leak with the estimated amount. The action plans, the profit simulator and the seven day practice schedule belong to Pro. Free tells you what is going wrong, Pro helps you fix it.
What if I do not have eight weeks in a row? +
Then start with leak 5 only, tilt. That is the one that pays off immediately without you putting any study time into it, because it is a rule of behaviour and not a technique. After that you pick up the rest, one a month.
find your own leaks
Which of the 5 do you have?
Pokiq reviews your own imported hands and shows your most expensive leak, with what it costs you per 100 hands. Free to start.
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