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Poker Video: Limit Hold'Em by DeathDonkey (Mid Stakes)

MMmmmm Sushi!!!

Very pumped for this series! Congrats Sushi. Gonna watch this on the train tomorrow.

This looks great

Hey Peter, just wanted to say congratulations one more time on the series!

~6:16 A5o on an AT3 twotone board versus a BB PF capper
When he checks the flop I am immediately suspicious of a slowplay. Enough so that I am almost certainly turbo mucking to a turn c/r by him. At the same time I agree this is KK/QQ type hands often enough that you're better off betting the flop (which, as DD said, makes the BB's turn c/r even stronger and I feel great folding there).

~23:45 blind versus blind IP with AJo
When a player open completes the SB I usually assume he's weak and passive (unless he's DD of course) so I think this flop c/r means a 9 basically always. I doubt many default unknown opponents who open limp can c/r a semi-bluff or even a 4. As such I think I'm fine with mucking the turn.

~37:20 TT on an AQ8x board with three (you have none)
The only other factor I'd consider when thinking about a turn bet is that the villain likely cannot raise a Q that he slowplayed on the flop (e.g., KQ, QJ) because the turn A is scary to him. At the same time, when you check the ace I think most people can bet the Q there.

Lastly, as a general note I noticed blntznbrndy was at your table for a few of these hands. I didn't play with him a ton but my impression was that he was likely one of the better players at that limit (probably even a winner). I'm not saying I would avoid him necessarily or that I would fear him. But I would probably need a good reason to sit with him as there are so many other weak players around in other games.

I was hoping DD would have posted this for me, but I guess he forgot.


Summary of Omakase lesson 1: DeathDonkey, Session review

To help you guys with the learning process I intend to write a little summary to each episode. You can read this after watching the video to repeat the key concepts that was discussed. Hope this helps.

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A 5:

I was in the CO with a maniac on the BTN. Important thing in this spot is not to be too tight. If the maniac will 3-bet a very wide range you can raise and let him clear the field. Basically you are isolating yourself with the maniac. Chris pointed out that it’s important to remember this post-flop and show-down UI. I asked about hands with little show-down value like T9s and Chris thought that the playability made them fine raises. He also suggested the use of some unorthodox lines like XR, XR etc to maximize your value.

The maniac did 3-bet and SB capped. This is a close spot with A5o, because we will often get into sticky spots post-flop. Given that SB also seemed aggro and that he of course should have noted the maniac, the call is ok.

The flop is the key part in this hand. The action went X,X,B,C,C. Chris pointed out that in a bloated pot it is often better to take a straightforward aggressive line to make the situation clearer. His preferred play is to simply bet out, or as a second option XR. Especially important is to note how the poor flop play did set up the sticky turn spot.

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8 5:

I was in the BB vs a limper and SB. SB donked a 8A3 and I raised. This is a bad play in such a small pot. In small pots inducing bluffs go up in value, while protecting you hand goes down. Calling would have been a much better play (there is a great Oink post about this that I was unable to find. Anyone knows where?)

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AJ:

SB completes, I raise from BB. SB XR me on a 249 I call. Turn is 8, SB bets.

Chris points out that we don’t have the correct pot-odds to draw to our six outer. First question is if players at 2/4 XR this flop as pure bluff enough. Chris feeling is no, but he gave me as a home-work to go trough some BW to try to see what people usually show up with.

A very important point: Don’t call the turn without a plan in a spot when we are not getting sufficient pot-odds. Take your time! Try to name what river cards you will call. You can choose some random cards, as well as the worst ones (like T ) . This will prevent you from showing down AJ 100% in this spot and becoming a target for thin value-bets.

River: 7, SB bets, I fold.

This fold is inconsistent with the turn call. This shows that I didn’t have a plan on the turn. However the 7 could be used as one of the earlier mentioned randomizing cards and if so the fold is ok. Sadly that was not my thought process.


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A5:

This hand should be raised UTG. In fact all suited aces should. At 2/4 villains will not punish you enough with 3-bets. Exploit that!


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TT:

HJ raises, BTN CC, I 3-bet, both call. I c-bet Q83, HJ folds, BTN calls. Turn is the A, I bet intending to fold to a raise.

Chris said this was ok at the lower stakes where people are passive with their raises. However in higher stakes game it is too risky, especially vs LAGs. Our hand is not strong enough to put in two bets. At the same time many opponents will semi-bluff lone diamonds. Also there are few hands we can get value from. If we check they will often bet hands like 66 anyway for us. So XC is a better play in these games.

Villain calls, river is 6 and I bet again. Chris feels there are too few hands to get value from in this spot. A better play would be XC to potentially induce a bluff. We will lose the same amount as vs Ax, Qx, but we gain more value vs his entire range that will have lots of draws in it.

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TT:

This hand should be compared with the earlier TT hand because there is a similar turn spot, but this time we are in position. Pre-flop: BTN raises, SB CC, I 3-bet from BB both call. I c-bet the flop and only SB calls. He checks to me on the turn. The board s now: Q3A; A,

I b/f. Chris feels this is a better spot for the play. First we have position so we can take a FSD. Secondly villain has checked to us indicating some weakness. I pointed out that a Q counterfeits my hand and may give villain more outs than he realizes.

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98:

I defend vs an UTG raiser and the flop is: Q82. Chris thinks this is a XR as default. We need to balance the semi-bluffs we want to make on this draw heavy board (JT, J9, T9 ´s ). And if we only raise Qx or stronger we will be too polarized. We agree that many opponents 3-bet, for example AK, in this spot, so we can’t really fold unless an A falls. If the Q was the K, there are less reason to XR. However we can balance this play with some “pure” bluffs, like JT.

I said that I don’t usually semi-bluff this board because many players tend to be stubborn with Ax. However, as Chris pointed out, this really shows the value of XR 98. He also thinks that XR semi-bluff is good because:
a) We often have good equity, sometimes we are even a favourite
b) It puts Ax in a sticky spot, and depending on what cards falls they may fold later on.


Peter(sushiglutton)

Thnx for your thoughts pygmy!

Did you notice we have a g-s on the turn in the A5o hand? I think with 7 likely outs + possibility of having he best hand makes the fold a misstake.

I like ur point about using the pf limp to read the flop XR as stronger. I will start to think more about that.

I agree that most players won't raise a Q after the A hits. But is that in favour of BF or a XC? I mean a raise will now be more polarized and harder to fold vs. On the other hand I will get the chance to spike a T more often.

Thnx for the warning for that player.

Hey sushi, congrats on the series!

Excellent video. Also two thumbs up for posting this session review! I'm sure it's a great learning tool for you and it's certainly useful to the rest of us as well.

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8Spade 5Heart:

I was in the BB vs a limper and SB. SB donked a 8ClubAClub3Spade and I raised. This is a bad play in such a small pot. In small pots inducing bluffs go up in value, while protecting you hand goes down. Calling would have been a much better play (there is a great Oink post about this that I was unable to find. Anyone knows where?)

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Did you guys refer to this post?

Oops! Thanks for posting that sushi, sorry I forgot. Hope your skiing trip went great.

Yeah that was the one I think fnupple though I have seen some other examples too that Oink got excited about here and on 2p2 I believe.

Hey sushi, on the A5 hand I meant I am turbo folding in general if I 'just' have TP on the turn and he c/r's. I didn't mean I'm folding this hand since you have TP + the gutter. I also wouldn't fold a 5 on the turn obv.

In the first hand (A5o) if we had 9Ts instead, are we still coming in for a raise? It would seem to me that we would not want to bloat the pot OOP here with a non showdownable hand. Wouldn't limping be better? The maniac will still be raising and you may very well still get it heads up but now you can play a little more fit or fold while still having great implied odds if you hit.

23 minutes in 58 with a 8A3 board...If Sushi had just called the flop what would be the plan the rest of the way? Are we just calling down? Are there any boards or cards that we are planning to fold to on the turn or river. I am assuming in this situation the pot gets heads up.

What if the other player called the flop bet?

Hi motienko,

In your first question, I still see a lot of positives to raising something like T9s. The maniac self isolating with a 3 bet is fine for us because the dead money in the pot from the blinds gives us a nice overlay with a hand that is probably around a coinflip against any wide 3 betting range, plus we probably have positive implied odds postflop given the maniac's propensity to spew. I think showdown value is a bit overrated, we can simply play our hand fairly straightforwardly, the preflop equity is what it is for a reason, we will very often hit a pair or draw and be able to continue.

In the 85 hand on A83 board, I would say in general I am often calling two barrels before making a final determination, not necessarily showdown bound straight from the flop. Against a few guys you can probably fold the turn, but not many online these days. If the other player calls the flop bet its a double edged sword, our pot odds are better but the equity we have is almost certainly worse, I would be more inclined to fold by the river in a multiway pot.

nice first vid guys, some great discussion on those TT hands