Yo,

Just wanted to say hello, and that I\'m really excited to be working with DeucesCracked, and I\'m equally (if not more) excited to hear your thoughts on the video.

Thanks for watching!
--tubasteve

nomdeguerre wrote:

1. When you isolate a fishy limper, do you only do this with a specific type of hand? I\'m particularly thinking about players who are chronic calling stations. Is it better to stick to hands with showdown value such as aces, decent suited kings and pairs or should I be raising with anything I\'d usually open with from my position (assuming we\'re both 100bb deep?

Generally I actually will isolate slightly wider than my range for just stealing the blinds when a calling station limps. Since these guys play so terribly postflop, you want to try to get into pots with them when you have position. My ranges are very flexible in these spots, but generally if a calling station limps and I have position (BU or CO) I\'ll raise my normal range plus lots of weaker suited hands such as Q7s or 69s. FWIW I would also be openraising tons of hands like this from the button. (I play about a 23/19 style.) Its important to understand that in NLHE, preflop decisions are much less important than in LHE because there is so much more room to outplay people postflop. Because of this, you don\'t really need to follow a hand chart or have rigid ranges from each position in NLHE; use the table conditions and player statistics to guide you.

2. What are your thoughts on defending your blinds in NL? The reason I ask is that I think I\'m not defending my blinds enough, although this may be because I come from a limit background where I defend them all the time. What sort of hands would you defend with against someone with an ATS% around 35% say? Also, do you prefer to just call and see a flop or three bet?

I try to vary my play a lot from the blinds. If I want to defend, I\'ll do it with a mix of both 3-betting and cold-calling (intending to c/r most scary flops). Against a 35% ATS button raise, I think defending is profitable with a VERY wide range including any suited connector or suited ace, and lots of other stuff. If you gave some examples I could give you a yes or no, but it really depends on how often he has raised recently, and I defend more if I have been tight at the table because I have more FE.


Please let me know if I can clarify any of these points. Any criticisms or suggestions for the next video?

Does anyone have a request for a particular stake for my next video? I have filmed my second which is single-tabling 200NL on FTP, which should be up sometime soon, but I would like some ideas for the third. Please, let me know what you want to see regarding stakes, site (US only), # of tables, and preflop style of play.

--Tubasteve

tubasteve wrote:

Does anyone have a request for a particular stake for my next video? I have filmed my second which is single-tabling 200NL on FTP, which should be up sometime soon, but I would like some ideas for the third. Please, let me know what you want to see regarding stakes, site (US only), # of tables, and preflop style of play.

Liked the first video. About the 3rd, how about multitabling FR around the same levels? Quite a lot of NL videos seem to be 6-max, would be nice to see full ring ones too, multitabling 4 or more if 2 gets too boring for you.

Joe Tall wrote:

More than 2 tables is very difficult to get points across, even for a motor-chops like DeathDonkey, heh! What would be interesting if we could come up with topic to covering during the \"folding pattern\" of a full-ring session. Ideas?

One or 2 tables FR would be ideal for me. How about discussing what hands and ranges you would have played in that particular situation while folding hands you actually were dealt? Anyway, anything NL FR suits me fine, all topics.

Hi rule,

rule62 wrote:

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your effort here. I am a new member and have been considering changing sites as deuces (as advertised) seems to focus on limit and I would like to make a smoother transition to NL. I play a lot of SnG and MTT strictly NL, but I have yet to venture too much into cash games.

Could you elaborate on bankroll requirements. I know there is tons of info out there on bankrolls but i would like your perspective. As for suggestions for the videos I have a couple of requests.

Well, it really depends on a few factors. The standard amount normally quoted in books and other forums is 20 BI for NL cash, 100 BI for MTTs, and 50 for SNGs. However, these recommendations are kind of outdated. The games are tougher now than when most of the literature was written, and we now better understand the variance behind aggressive online play compared to more passive live games.

I think for a beginning player, its safest to only start playing a new limit with at least 40 BI. Many professional players at NL200 and higher keep at least 100BI in their rolls; I personally feel comfortable playing NL100-200 with 30BI, and I play for my rent, so I think those guys tend to stay WAY overrolled. Then again, many of them are just 8-tabling rakeback grinders that are marginal winners.

1) Would you do some SnG and talk about how your strategy differs from cash games?

SNGs are a completely different game from NLHE cash and MTTs. The optimal strategy is to play tighest in SNGs and loosest in cash games, assuming the blinds are still small and stacks are around 50-100 BB. Once you start getting short in a sit-n-go it becomes all about pushbotting, which can be very counterintuitive since your chip-ev is different than your $-ev for most of the tournament due to the payout structure. Your best bet for SNG info is the 2+2 single-table tournament forum; I haven\'t played them for over a year.

2) Two tables works for me, but I could follow 3 or 4 probably just as easily if you find that more enjoyable and interesting.

I think I\'ll probably keep it to 2, but if there is a lot of demand for a 4-tabling video I might try to make one and just play tight.

3) MTT NLHE would be welcomed as we only have a few videos on here.

It\'s in the works. Any suggestions for buyin/field size/site?

4) Any further elaboration you could make on PokerTracker, mods and PAHUDD (?) would be greatly appreciated. I am completely new to these tools and so sometimes the definitions that are given in the video are a little quick for me.

I would recommend checking out www.pokeracesoftware.com and www.pokertracker.com for information on those programs. The sites can explain them much better than I can; but know that they are essential to online play if you multitable and intend to get serious about your game and about your winrate. Some players don\'t use these programs, seeing them as unnecessary, but they are inexpensive and give you a huge edge over anyone not using them. Regarding mods, you basically just have to copy image files into your FTP directory. I would suggest checking out the Software forum on 2+2 to find all the various mods.

5) Are you taking bong hits while you are playing or just smoking? :) Every now and then during the video you can hear what appears to be smoking (of some sorts, maybe the devils cabbage) Doesn\'t bother me as I am a smoker (cigs) as well. Just thought I would mention it if you were unaware.

Haha, you caught me! I need to quit those damn cigs.

Thanks and I really appreciate what you are doing for the community.

P.S are you available for coaching and how would we set that up?

I coach for www.3-bet.net so if you\'re interested, you can register at the site.

Thanks for watching!