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Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by Ansky (Mid Stakes)

Time Link to 00:03:36

Eh... I feel people have been saying "the games are tough" for like 5 years now (in fact I have watched some videos from early 2008 recently where Krantz and FWF were saying this), and in my opinion the only thing that's changed is the metagame preflop. I think the community in general overestimates how much other players are actually improving.... most people don't even want to change their game (they just want to be better). I think a lot of people say there is less of an edge in the game these days because the preflop game is so loose and aggressive and a lot of money goes in pre.... and while its true that more money is going in preflop, I really just don't think it reduces our edge. It only hurts you if you refuse to adjust and you continue to play into the preflop variance wars that the LAGs want to play. If a LAG wants to be a LAG, then fine, I'm going to open a narrow range and own you when you think you can 3bet 78s and barrel off..........

Time Link to 00:17:42

Bottom right table,
I haven't been playing nl for a while and watching this I'm glad that you specified that here it's not a super clear standard 4bet. First of all, "standard" is a word that annoys me when people are discussing poker strategy (I surprise myself using it sometimes) I just think saying a situation is "standard" is something that becomes a bad habit very quickly for any player as it becomes some sort of an excuse to not really think a situation through and think outside the box.

Anyways, let's get to the specific hand. My thoughts on the situation here are that if we 4bet we get a bunch of folds from the more speculative part of his range, we get him to 5bet the strongest part of his range and then we get him to flat a lot with the hands we dominate (AJs,AQ,KQs). So, we're getting it in but are not super happy about it, we're building a bigger pot against the hands we dominate, we get him to fold a bunch of the weaker part of his range.

With a call, we keep his weaker hands in (which is fine but not as great as it sounds), we do not get it in preflop against the strongest part of his range, and we keep all the hands we dominate without building the pot against them.

The thing is, I don't think we miss much by not building a pot against the hands we dominate, since the value from those will come from when he hits a pair which will be top pair most of the time + the fact that since we didn't 4bet preflop he will discount a lot of AK from our range.

All in all, I think 4betting is fine, but we are in position, we have the luxury not to stack off in a not so great spot, we will still get a lot of value from the hands we dominate by calling and we will gain in deceptiveness since he will discount AK from our range a lot.

Ok so yeah once again I got caught up and probably wrote to much, but anyways I would appreciate your thoughts on my thought process here.

Thanks.

Time Link to 00:14:23

Table 3
What's a plan if we get called on the flop?

Time Link to 00:33:42

In the 22 where you 3bet pre and cbet the flop. What is your plan for future streets if you get called on the flop?

new ansky series, time to renew my subscription. now that whitelime, fwf, and wiltontilt aren't making regular series you are probably both the most educational and entertaining coach on DC by a longshot ansky. just posting to let you know that your videos are worth my subscription price alone

also want to add that your hand history reviews with blah were super good. I kind of got the impression that blah stopped playing as much/ran out of hands, but I've probably watched every single one of those vids atleast 5 times. you do a really good job with hand history reviews because you go into depth on alot of specific concepts that occur during hands, not just the hands themselves. blah also made a very good video partner because although he made mistakes sometimes, he was a good player who had a style pretty different from you but still justified his plays very well

Time Link to 00:27:51

On table one where you 3bet Clawviper. Do you really normally size your 3bet size this small OOP fairly deep or was this just a overlook, seems to me like most people would 3bet much bigger in this spot?

I don't agree this. With that bet sizing and action opponent has pretty often 99 or TT and you will get small value for sure. Ofc, I can't see getting value pretty often but don't suppose to see better hand calling you down either, almost ever. Could be QQ or even better...but just way too rarely not to value.

Time Link to 00:32:49

Bottom left on JJx board.
I see that you Check back these paired boards sometimes (often?).
And here you are calling turn and folding river. Would you call OTR if you had Ax?

Isn't your hand face up in this spot (I guess you would Cbet with PP) and are you not afraid of being bluffed out in these spots?

On table one where you 3bet Clawviper. Do you really normally size your 3bet size this small OOP fairly deep or was this just a overlook, seems to me like most people would 3bet much bigger in this spot?

+1

Eh... I feel people have been saying "the games are tough" for like 5 years now (in fact I have watched some videos from early 2008 recently where Krantz and FWF were saying this), and in my opinion the only thing that's changed is the metagame preflop. I think the community in general overestimates how much other players are actually improving.... most people don't even want to change their game (they just want to be better). I think a lot of people say there is less of an edge in the game these days because the preflop game is so loose and aggressive and a lot of money goes in pre.... and while its true that more money is going in preflop, I really just don't think it reduces our edge. It only hurts you if you refuse to adjust and you continue to play into the preflop variance wars that the LAGs want to play. If a LAG wants to be a LAG, then fine, I'm going to open a narrow range and own you when you think you can 3bet 78s and barrel off..........

They definitely have been getting tougher, but I agree theres still plenty of money out there.

Table 3
What's a plan if we get called on the flop?

Probably bet again... we have 9 high and a flush draw after all.

In the 22 where you 3bet pre and cbet the flop. What is your plan for future streets if you get called on the flop?

Totatlly depends on texture, I may have a rare bluff in which I'd be happier to barrel bricks than "scare" cards (big cards mostly). I might just shut down vs some players though.

On table one where you 3bet Clawviper. Do you really normally size your 3bet size this small OOP fairly deep or was this just a overlook, seems to me like most people would 3bet much bigger in this spot?

You right, shoulda been bigger.

Bottom left on JJx board.
I see that you Check back these paired boards sometimes (often?).
And here you are calling turn and folding river. Would you call OTR if you had Ax?

Isn't your hand face up in this spot (I guess you would Cbet with PP) and are you not afraid of being bluffed out in these spots?

I'd call a pair usually, king high seems too bad.

I chekc these flops sometimes because I think it's easier to balance with having big hands sometimes.

eh I don't mean big hands, but I'd sometims check really big pps on JJ2 or similar flops.