Beginner Limit Hold'em Poker Forums

Hey all,

I've been returning to the LHE forums lately to brush up on my game and think about poker a little more than I have been over the past year or so. Lots of good posts in here, so first of all, thanks for that.

I'm really curious what your real "problem" spots are. I'm sure they've been explored in videos, shorts, etc., to some extent, but there are a lot of tough problems in LHE that are very interesting when you look at them in isolation and break them down.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the questions/answers in this thread, but I think it'll be a fun discussion regardless. If you have a problem, like "I never know when to bluff the river when my draw missed and when to give up," post an example hand as well as the problem.

holla back y'all,
Rob

I was wondering why you were popping up in so many threads -- Ididn't want to point it out and jinx anything. I'll post some questions after work

Do you recomend ever a player whos never really played LHE before primarily only NL or PL would you recomend this type of player whos on a 4k downsing at NL100/NL200 Maybe change things up and try to rebuild and learn limit holdem for less variance, coolers ect.

Im on the biggest downwing of my life and dont want to have to get a part time job. As my roll ins windling down day by day.

Ive tried everything, drop to NL100 drop to NL50 drop to 9 FR no luck. Now am at NL10- shot taking NL20 :s

sick game/

The biggest downsing before this was about 900$ playing NL25 about 8 months ago, which last about 55k hands.

I feel like Im chasing my losses ie missing bankroll.

And now have been cutting my sessions much shorter and reminding myself to aproach the game in the proper way. Just play good poker.

But its tough.

Mentally.

LHE can be just as tough mentally with regards to downswings/run bad. I imagine even harder for NL pros making the switch because they aren't used the amount of villains chasing very weak draws and getting there compared to the NL variant.

That said, I don't think its bad to mix it up every once in a while as long as its with the approach of trying to learn a new game from scratch to keep things interesting and not with hopes of picking it up instantly and crushing.

Problem spots? A few immediately spring to mind, I may think of some more:

* We have a bluff catcher in a head's up pot. Maybe a weakish ace high. When to call down and when to give it up? This can become a levelling war, of course. I mean, we can call on the turn thinking that they will give up and not barrel the river if we call again. But then when they bet again on the river its all too easy to level ourselves into calling given the odds.

* We have a hand with some small showdown value on the turn - again, maybe a (bigger) ace high or bottom pair. When to barrel and when to check. This is particularly a problem out of position.

* We open raise preflop with a hand near the bottom of our range and face two coming back to us.

* When to cap preflop, both in head's up and 3 way pots.

Actually that is probably plenty!

Problem spots? A few immediately spring to mind, I may think of some more:

* We have a bluff catcher in a head's up pot. Maybe a weakish ace high. When to call down and when to give it up? This can become a levelling war, of course. I mean, we can call on the turn thinking that they will give up and not barrel the river if we call again. But then when they bet again on the river its all too easy to level ourselves into calling given the odds.

* We have a hand with some small showdown value on the turn - again, maybe a (bigger) ace high or bottom pair. When to barrel and when to check. This is particularly a problem out of position.

* We open raise preflop with a hand near the bottom of our range and face two coming back to us.

* When to cap preflop, both in head's up and 3 way pots.

Actually that is probably plenty!

Can you post a few example hands of where you've struggled with these?

LHE can be just as tough mentally with regards to downswings/run bad. I imagine even harder for NL pros making the switch because they aren't used the amount of villains chasing very weak draws and getting there compared to the NL variant.

That said, I don't think its bad to mix it up every once in a while as long as its with the approach of trying to learn a new game from scratch to keep things interesting and not with hopes of picking it up instantly and crushing.

100% agree with Slide here. I think if you're looking for a variance-free way to win money, poker isn't going to be the right game for you in general, and LHE definitely won't be that game. Variance in LHE can be absolutely brutal - you may not lose a few stacks in a day, but you'll certainly have 400BB downswings if you play enough.

If you're in the midst of a strong cooler, I might recommend learning other games, but I wouldn't recommend playing them a ton until you're 1000% sure you're ready mentally. I'd recommend joining a study group in the meantime, both for NLHE and other games you're interested in, so you are able to catch leaks and problems with your assumptions that may help your game over time, regardless of which one you stick with.

Best of luck,
Rob

I have a problem that i am working on. AND is getting better at for sure.

Plugging down the hand streets by streets, to put him on a range of hands.

I know there isent a recipe, but i could use some guidelines ( Maybe add them to my current guidelines)

What is your rutine when putting ppl on a range. Is there is such a thing

regards!

Yes ok, these were some of my thoughts aswell, as i have seen some highstakes players go on massive LHE swings.

Didnt know if the lower stakes was any different.

And the study group yes, what Im trying to look into. Even just a smaller stake group where I can work on my rebuild and stay fresh and help other members on the way.

thanks guys, I love DC and all the friendly community help!



Atm Ive been transitioning to mtts, so switching to LHE and transitioning to mtts is too much to take in. Best to dropped down help other out in a study group and gain my confidence back.

Can you post a few example hands of where you've struggled with these?

OK I'll have to do these one at a time. Head's up with Ace high. There are other ways this can happen eg when we get 3b preflop or when we get c/r on a flop....although in the last case we can perhaps be more easily guided by which draws come in.

Poker Stars $3/$6 Limit Hold'em - 4 players - View hand 1791245
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.333 SB) Hero is BB with 6 A
1 fold, BTN raises, 1 fold, Hero calls

Flop: (4.333 SB) T 4 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls

Turn: (3.167 BB) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls

River: (5.167 BB) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 7.167 BB

So its all about when to call on the river, depending on villain's seat (or range), and the cards that come down. What if villain raised from the highjack? What if the turn was a jack? And so on.

Problem spots? A few immediately spring to mind, I may think of some more:


* We have a hand with some small showdown value on the turn - again, maybe a (bigger) ace high or bottom pair. When to barrel and when to check. This is particularly a problem out of position.

Poker Stars $5/$10 Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 1791252
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.4 SB) Hero is SB with A T
3 folds, Hero raises, BB calls

Flop: (4 SB) 4 6 4 (2 players)
Hero bets, BB calls

Turn: (3 BB) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

River: (3 BB) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 5 BB

The additional problem is whether to call on the end, either after the turn checked through or we played check-call on the turn.

Villain here was 29/17 over 527, but with Aggression Frequency of only 34% so bet/fold on the turn seems better. The check was to prevent being raised and calling because of the likelihood of a flush draw. This check-call move would make extra sense if there was also a straight draw out there.

Problem spots? A few immediately spring to mind, I may think of some more:

* We open raise preflop with a hand near the bottom of our range and face two coming back to us.

Poker Stars $3/$6 Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1791258
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.333 SB) Hero is UTG with A T
Hero raises, MP 3-bets, 3 folds, BB caps!, 1 fold, MP calls

Flop: (10.333 SB) K 9 T (2 players)
BB bets, MP raises, BB 3-bets, MP caps!, BB calls all in

Turn: (8.833 BB) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (8.833 BB) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: 8.833 BB

What if this is button v SB v BB?

Problem spots? A few immediately spring to mind, I may think of some more:

* When to cap preflop, both in head's up and 3 way pots.

This is more of a general question - should we cap preflop in position, or out of position, or not at all, head's up preflop. The cap gives a lot of information away and if we are oop we can always raise the flop anyway. E.g:

Poker Stars $5/$10 Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 1791269
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.4 SB) Hero is UTG with Q Q
Hero raises, 1 fold, BTN 3-bets, 2 folds, Hero caps!, BTN calls

Flop: (9.4 SB) 2 3 5 (2 players)
Hero bets, BTN raises, Hero 3-bets, BTN caps!, Hero calls

Turn: (8.7 BB) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets, BTN raises, Hero calls

River: (12.7 BB) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 14.7 BB

I had less than ten hands with villain.

OK I'll have to do these one at a time. Head's up with Ace high. There are other ways this can happen eg when we get 3b preflop or when we get c/r on a flop....although in the last case we can perhaps be more easily guided by which draws come in.

Poker Stars $3/$6 Limit Hold'em - 4 players - View hand 1791245
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.333 SB) Hero is BB with 6 A
1 fold, BTN raises, 1 fold, Hero calls

Flop: (4.333 SB) T 4 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls

Turn: (3.167 BB) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls

River: (5.167 BB) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 7.167 BB

So its all about when to call on the river, depending on villain's seat (or range), and the cards that come down. What if villain raised from the highjack? What if the turn was a jack? And so on.

2 Questions which matter, if you're not going for a GTO-type solution to how to play these hands. Let's start there.

1) What do you know about your opponent?
2) What do you think he expects you to do on this river, given your flop and turn lines? What does your hand look like?