Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by blah234 (Micro/Small Stakes)

good video great series, thnx blah

@3.13. - See Hielkos ghost nl200 episode for more details

Really liked this one as well as the whole series! Gj! Looking forward to Apex Predator MidStakes!

hello thanks i really liked the whole 8 episodes (would have liked nl200 but seems it was not the goal)
here are my question for this episode

1’19 why do you call if he shoves, you do not have much equity but still enough for a check?

3’33 K8s you do not know it you should 3bet depolarized or polarized and you want to 3bet K7s?why don't you start with a depolariezed range against lose players?

14 57 why do you 3bet QTo you do not know if he will call worse? is it for Value for Bluff? Even if hes lose preflop we do not know how he reacts to 3bet, Qto seems a little weak for value

15’58 TT JJ are not on his range dor doing it, making you crushed

18’17 you want to 3bet terjepowef depolarized ok, which hands will you 3 bet him?

25’20 you say 99% raise dry board = bluff, why don’t you 3bet as at 15'36

53’29 why is it a good 3bet 5 bet shove spot?

54’07 why do you overbet, don’t you think he will have same calling range whith potsizee or even ¾ pot?

1’05 we're waiting for apex predator 2 next week :=) it would be so great. i really like the format, maybe you could juste be more explicit in videos sessions with therory you developped on therory videos, that would mean in Apex 1 allaways say i cb depolarized because...i 3 bet polarized because...i C/R gutshot because he's polarized etc etc....

really looking forward apex 2 as soon as possible,

thanks have a nice day

hello thanks i really liked the whole 8 episodes (would have liked nl200 but seems it was not the goal)
here are my question for this episode

1’19 why do you call if he shoves, you do not have much equity but still enough for a check?

I have no idea what you're talking about or which hand you're talking about

3’33 K8s you do not know it you should 3bet depolarized or polarized and you want to 3bet K7s?why don't you start with a depolariezed range against lose players?

Why would we start with a depolarized range vs loose players?

14 57 why do you 3bet QTo you do not know if he will call worse? is it for Value for Bluff? Even if hes lose preflop we do not know how he reacts to 3bet, Qto seems a little weak for value

If you watched my other videos then you will know that I don't 3 bet as a bluff or for value. Only reason I 3 bet is because I think it's the highest EV play.

15’58 TT JJ are not on his range dor doing it, making you crushed

no idea what you're talking about again.

18’17 you want to 3bet terjepowef depolarized ok, which hands will you 3 bet him?

If you don't know how to construct a 3 betting range this series maybe too advanced for you. Depolarized means high card hands.

25’20 you say 99% raise dry board = bluff, why don’t you 3bet as at 15'36

There is more than when facing a bluff

53’29 why is it a good 3bet 5 bet shove spot?

no idea what you're talking about

54’07 why do you overbet, don’t you think he will have same calling range whith potsizee or even ¾ pot?

This i post is too hard to respond too. Please use time stamp links.

Wow, I think this is the serie which have helped me most to understand poker consepts ever. Absolutly in the same class as WoT mathematics series. This is that kind of content which make me pay my DC membership. Thanks for a great serie Blah234!

You asked for suggestions about series, I don't think this is enough for a whole serie, but maybe something for DC SHORTS. How do you easily in a fast way know how much more EV+ a decision is against another. I am like using my timebank a lot and sometimes even time out while I am thinking, and I don't really know how to make the best decision in a fast way. I still only play 3-4 tables.

Next video...mentor video with your favourite student.

53’29 why is it a good 3bet 5 bet shove spot?

Hand is @ 53.09 pretty much.

You are 3 handed, have 99 vs a 32/27. Think about why 3bet/5bet jamming will be good vs an aggressive player who isnt fully stacked. Think about ranges and how our hand is vs that. He has also 4bet 29% over 14 samples, meaning he is 4betting a decent amount.

Not to sound a dick, but if you are playing nl100/nl200 and dont know basic hand ranges, then i would re-evaluate your whole poker game. Reading your responses you seem fairly lost with many simples concepts blah talks about in the video.

thx for the work you put in here!!!

Got a question about overbetting for value against regulars. only use it when their hand is face up as really strong or are there times you use it as a nonstandard thin value bet to get herocalled?

thx EJ

thx for the work you put in here!!!

Got a question about overbetting for value against regulars. only use it when their hand is face up as really strong or are there times you use it as a nonstandard thin value bet to get herocalled?

thx EJ

it depends on the villain. Often times overbetting for value in spots vs good hand readers where you rep very very narrow value range to get hero called is good. At 100nl mostly just overbet as a bluff or value when their hand is face up. Most players seem to play their hand and the board as suppose to what you're repping.

OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!! what ever floats his boat was the punch line of the series

Time Link to 00:15:52

you say you think players players have a bluff here a very high percentage, but dont you think most villians are CR most FDs if not all on this board?Maybe its cause I play 1/2, but most players I play with rarely have air here, because most of them know they are repping nothing.

you say you think players players have a bluff here a very high percentage, but dont you think most villians are CR most FDs if not all on this board?Maybe its cause I play 1/2, but most players I play with rarely have air here, because most of them know they are repping nothing.

How many FD combos are in this range that has an over card to Q? that's assuming he c/r 100% of his FD. The pot is so big he rarely has to fold for our shove to be +EV since we probalby have around 25% equity vs his calling range.

Time Link to 00:16:02

How about just calling when he raises you in the QTo hand? Since your perceived range will look a lot like an overpair he should most likely shut down on the turn with bluffs and you can just take down the pot with a small bet? And if he decides to fire again you can be fairly sure he has a hand (or do you expect SSNL players to expect you to float his raise here often?).

How about just calling when he raises you in the QTo hand? Since your perceived range will look a lot like an overpair he should most likely shut down on the turn with bluffs and you can just take down the pot with a small bet? And if he decides to fire again you can be fairly sure he has a hand (or do you expect SSNL players to expect you to float his raise here often?).

Pot is too big and our hand is too vulnerable so it's better to shove and make villain fold now. Our perceived range also has loads of draws if we call so if the villain can hand read he will shove alot of none diamond cards on the turn as a bluff.

Time Link to 01:06:20

Awesome series blah, cant wait for the next one!! Im hoping its midstakes!

Hi Blah234,

Thanks for the video, its great!

I'm just wondering in episode eight, at 15:49, you 3bet that terjepower guy, and you said that he's reping nothing, can you please explain on that? isn't it possible that he flat ur 3b with TT~QQ and looking to c/r any flop thats good for him? thank you in advance

Hi Blah234,

Thanks for the video, its great!

I'm just wondering in episode eight, at 15:49, you 3bet that terjepower guy, and you said that he's reping nothing, can you please explain on that? isn't it possible that he flat ur 3b with TT~QQ and looking to c/r any flop thats good for him? thank you in advance

flatting with a midpair and get stacks in on a flop that's "good" for you makes no sense. That implies you c/f all flops that has over cards and you will get stacked by bigger overpairs anyways.

It's of course possible for him to have hands that beat me. However, even if villain can flat and c/r for value with half of TT-QQ that's all of 9 combos of value hands and he needs less than 9 combos of bluffs for us to shove profitably since we still have equity when called. In poker we always play vs villain's range and not specific hands. If we run into the top of their range that counts as a cooler even when we're bluffing.

Again action @15:45 with QTo and bluff 3-bet AI:

Your 3-bet for additional $81.25 needs to work 58.45% of the time (providing that we have 0% equity). We have already said he can rep about 9 value combos. What about hands like AdXd, KdXd, QdXd ? 87s ? Against this entire range your equity (if called) is:

Board: 6s 6d 9d
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 21.111% 18.54% 02.58% 4037 561.00 { QcTs }
Hand 1: 78.889% 76.31% 02.58% 16621 561.00 { QQ, JcJd, JdJh, JdJs, TT, AdQd, AdJd, AdTd, KdQd, KdJd, KdTd, QdJd, QdTd, JdTd, 87s }

Now look at this ->
http://screenshooter.net/5913452/luatwec

If this is correct, then we need 41.2% fold equity. I think this is possible, though you did it so quickly, like you knew his tendencies very well

Same time, but on the table #4, KQo in 3-bet pot @QJJ -> you 3 barreled this board - was this for value ? If yes, show me worse hands vs better hands ratio, because besides QT/TT I don't see any worse (and reasonable) hands that can call you. What is more, T9s spiked an OESD on the river.

@22:40, A8s and 4-bet CO vs BTN 3-bet

I really hate your sizing. 2.0x could be enough but IP (though I'd still make it 2.1-2.2x) and OOP try to make it at least 2.4-2.5x, because otherwise ppl will flat too often - you don't want them to flat, when you are 4-betting as a bluff.

Secondly, your c-bet sizing in 4-bet pot, I think it is too big, you can get away with 1/3 as well.

And when you flop TPNK in 4-bet - do you always stack off, even vs a tight player ? I ask, because I had a problematic situation recently (check the hand notes for more info about opponent):

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1445606

Same time, but on the table #4, KQo in 3-bet pot @QJJ -> you 3 barreled this board - was this for value ? If yes, show me worse hands vs better hands ratio, because besides QT/TT I don't see any worse (and reasonable) hands that can call you. What is more, T9s spiked an OESD on the river.

I don't expect people to always fold a pair or even A high there.

@22:40, A8s and 4-bet CO vs BTN 3-bet

I really hate your sizing. 2.0x could be enough but IP (though I'd still make it 2.1-2.2x) and OOP try to make it at least 2.4-2.5x, because otherwise ppl will flat too often - you don't want them to flat, when you are 4-betting as a bluff.

Secondly, your c-bet sizing in 4-bet pot, I think it is too big, you can get away with 1/3 as well.

And when you flop TPNK in 4-bet - do you always stack off, even vs a tight player ? I ask, because I had a problematic situation recently (check the hand notes for more info about opponent):

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1445606

I can't find this hand. But generally when you 4 bet people can't call as long as you make it 2x and bigger than 20BB people should be playing shove or fold mathematically. Only bad players call 4 bets and I doubt making it few BB bigger will stop them from calling.

cbet sizing you don't need to be balanced. It's correct from a leverage point of view to bet 1/3 pot but if you can't be creative with bet sizing based on other factors then you're leaving money on the table.

If I can find the hand I might be able to tell you why I picked my bet size. Use timestamp next time.

Time Link to 00:28:39

28:40 not 22:40, sorry my bad

I don't expect people to always fold a pair or even A high there.

It looks like we play in two different worlds In my world people on NL50-100 are not super stationy, that's why I doubt if this is really a value shove.

The A8 4 bet pot hand my bet size was purely based on range and board. Villain's calling range is something like 99-JJ and some slow played QQ-AA then some stuff like AQ, KQ etc. Most of that range that has a pair but not pair of A will call 1 bet and fold to a turn shove. If villain can call 1 bet then we want to make that 1 bet slightly larger. I have draws in my perceived range so villain may not fold KK or Qx which is why I'm going with the hand.

Vs tighter villains it's reasonable to just check the flop and fold if he bets big on the turn so I'm not always stacking off vs everyone on every board with TPNK in 4 bet pot.

I noticed that you give away huge bet sizing tells -> you just simply bet significantly bigger when you hit something vast majority of the time. I am amazed that regs haven't catched up yet

You said that the competetion is pretty soft there. Therefore I would really want to see you playing against NL100/200 regs on european network, on Microgaming (if you are Canadian then you should be able to play there, if not, then use someone's account via VPN ). Europeans tend to play more aggro overall, thus you should have much more interesting action going at the tables. Consider this before recording next series !


Regarding the entire Apex Predator series - absolutely awesome, I love the way you develop reads on people and then wisely use them later in the game. But as I said, I would love to see you in the action on European network !

Good job Nan, well done !

If you watched my other videos then you will know that I don't 3 bet as a bluff or for value. Only reason I 3 bet is because I think it's the highest EV play.

This is a real non-answer tbh (idk if you were just irritated at the list of questions with no time links): the only reason you do anything is because you think it's the highest EV play! That doesn't mean you aren't doing it for value / as a bluff / to take down dead money / protection (etc).

(for contrast, you flat JTs in the same situation a few orbits earlier)

I think you could have said a bit more about this hand in response: are you expecting villain to fold a lot pre? X/F or B/F on the flop? IN which case, are you doing this with ATC, or is QTo "strong enough"?

This is a real non-answer tbh (idk if you were just irritated at the list of questions with no time links): the only reason you do anything is because you think it's the highest EV play! That doesn't mean you aren't doing it for value / as a bluff / to take down dead money / protection (etc).

(for contrast, you flat JTs in the same situation a few orbits earlier)

I think you could have said a bit more about this hand in response: are you expecting villain to fold a lot pre? X/F or B/F on the flop? IN which case, are you doing this with ATC, or is QTo "strong enough"?

I expect my combined FE preflop with the ability to create profitable situations postflop to be higher EV than a call vs this particular villain in that particular spot. Sorry if that sounds like a cope out blanket answer but it's how to evaluate the EV of a play. We should not play absolute hand strength ie, if you fold JTo vs one villain doesn't mean you need to fold JTo vs every villain in the same spot. Range construction for each villain should be different based on their tendencies and range.

You're really over simplifying things if you're trying to classify each action as value or bluff, there's more to EV than value or bluff. Even balugawhale says in his vids that sometimes his reason for betting is 2 way bet or psuodo thin value things like that.

I expect my combined FE preflop with the ability to create profitable situations postflop to be higher EV than a call vs this particular villain in that particular spot. Sorry if that sounds like a cope out blanket answer but it's how to evaluate the EV of a play.

Actually, that's a much more descriptive answer I thought it was fairly clear what you were doing in the hand, but I just thought "it's the highest EV play" didn't help the person asking the question. And sometimes a line really is simply for immediate value or bluff!

I think Baluga might have been one of the first coaches I heard talk about the more subtle reasons for betting / raising (i.e. when it was not clearly for immediate thin value or a bluff), it was an incredibly useful concept to me, but knowing when to bet (whether for "protection", or to make villain fold their slice of equity, or other dead money reasoning) is a difficult topic for me, personally.

How about just calling when he raises you in the QTo hand? Since your perceived range will look a lot like an overpair he should most likely shut down on the turn with bluffs and you can just take down the pot with a small bet? And if he decides to fire again you can be fairly sure he has a hand (or do you expect SSNL players to expect you to float his raise here often?).

A lot of the times it's also not bad to fold when you are up against low level thinkers who raise just because they think they have the best hand and want to get the money in. Or am I being leveled in these spots (they try to rep a bluff with a value and I fall for it)?

A lot of the times it's also not bad to fold when you are up against low level thinkers who raise just because they think they have the best hand and want to get the money in. Or am I being leveled in these spots (they try to rep a bluff with a value and I fall for it)?

Put people on a range. They don't need very many combos of bluffs for your shove to be +EV since you are not drawing completetly dead even vs their value hands. It's a very basic math questions and not a leveling game vs level 1 thinkers.

Great Series TYTYTY

at about 1:00:40

table 1 QsJs5c and u have J9o

u say u expect him to be fairly polarized

is it a default assumption vs unknown ? (or its based on the fact that he c-bets polarized from your note?)

or its mainly becouse of the A on the turn ?

lets say he wont bet the Q on the river which means he wont bet thin what makes u think he will bluff twice ? is it possible that he will bet depolarized but with very top of his range like Ax+, and wont bluff that much (for example he thinks that once u called on the A turn u wont fold much couse he expect u to check back with god amount of Ax) ?

at about 1:00:40

table 1 QsJs5c and u have J9o

u say u expect him to be fairly polarized

is it a default assumption vs unknown ? (or its based on the fact that he c-bets polarized from your note?)

or its mainly becouse of the A on the turn ?

lets say he wont bet the Q on the river which means he wont bet thin what makes u think he will bluff twice ? is it possible that he will bet depolarized but with very top of his range like Ax+, and wont bluff that much (for example he thinks that once u called on the A turn u wont fold much couse he expect u to check back with god amount of Ax) ?

It's a combination of both. Villain is polarized on the flop so his range of value hands are TP and better. When the A high he may not keep betting his floppedtop pair but will keep bluffing more often so his value range is even narrower thus more polarized.

Time Link to 00:11:27

On 8577 w/ AKo in that 3bet pot, I agree that the board hits his range but when he checks twice, what do you think of betting once otr for value? My reasoning is that there are a lot of straight and flush draw combinations in his range that you are ahead of and a value bet here becomes better with only 1 card to come. Thoughts?

Time Link to 00:26:11

What are your thoughts here on just flatting AK and hoping Terje goes for some likely spazz 3bet in the BB? Your range should be pretty solid vs this particular UTG player even if Terje doesn't spazz out.

On 8577 w/ AKo in that 3bet pot, I agree that the board hits his range but when he checks twice, what do you think of betting once otr for value? My reasoning is that there are a lot of straight and flush draw combinations in his range that you are ahead of and a value bet here becomes better with only 1 card to come. Thoughts?

villain can have any number of bluff catchers in his range and his draws has good equity vs our hand. If we stove a calling range I'm sure AK wouldn't be ahead too much to justify a "value" bet. We can't get value from parts of villain's range and must play vs villain's entire range.

What are your thoughts here on just flatting AK and hoping Terje goes for some likely spazz 3bet in the BB? Your range should be pretty solid vs this particular UTG player even if Terje doesn't spazz out.

I don't like to flat off suit broadways vs a stronger range because we miss the flop too much and playing back with air isn't great when villain started off with a tight range. Callilng is +EV but I think 3 bet is higher EV in these spots unless you want to induce a squeeze.

http://www.deucescracked.com/videos/12801-Episode-Eight?seek=953

Same time, but on the table #4, KQo in 3-bet pot @QJJ -> you 3 barreled this board - was this for value ? If yes, show me worse hands vs better hands ratio, because besides QT/TT I don't see any worse (and reasonable) hands that can call you. What is more, T9s spiked an OESD on the river.

I don't expect people to always fold a pair or even A high there.

Seems pretty thin without any reads about his range (he has none about yours either). His A-hi's probably have a gutshot too, those might continue on the turn but at least some of them probably raise. Pairs might continue but I kinda doubt <77 is calling flop/turn much (makes sense or not) and river gives 88 a boat, so that leaves 99/TT sometimes. QTs there's 2 combos total left and he's not gonna play it like this always, I'm not sure it's a fair assumption to give him worse Qxs and those won't be many combos anyways.

AA/KK are never folding but obv sometimes 4betting pre so that's maybe 5 combos total, AQ isn't folding (~5 combos?), Jx isn't folding (maybe up to 10 combos?). I'd say you need 12+ combos of calls from worse? Could be but I think it's at least closer than just "tp=nuts"?

http://www.deucescracked.com/videos/12801-Episode-Eight?seek=953


I don't expect people to always fold a pair or even A high there.
Seems pretty thin without any reads about his range (he has none about yours either). His A-hi's probably have a gutshot too, those might continue on the turn but at least some of them probably raise. Pairs might continue but I kinda doubt <77 is calling flop/turn much (makes sense or not) and river gives 88 a boat, so that leaves 99/TT sometimes. QTs there's 2 combos total left and he's not gonna play it like this always, I'm not sure it's a fair assumption to give him worse Qxs and those won't be many combos anyways.

AA/KK are never folding but obv sometimes 4betting pre so that's maybe 5 combos total, AQ isn't folding (~5 combos?), Jx isn't folding (maybe up to 10 combos?). I'd say you need 12+ combos of calls from worse? Could be but I think it's at least closer than just "tp=nuts"?

The calling range you give villain are not bluff catchers, they are the very top of his range, nuts if you want to call it that. When we can rep some bluffs villain has a reason to have a bluff catching range. The nutted part of their range may raise the flop or turn some % of the times so not 100% of the nutted range gets to the river.

Ya but I don't think he has that wide of a range to begin with, calling a 3bet pre vs an unknown who looks decent given that he looks decent too. I'd be really really really surprised to see villain call down w/ A-hi on the river and I'd expect 99/TT to fold the turn a bunch, which leaves the top of his range. betbetbet probably reps a lot of bluffs, a lot of ppl have a really narrow value-betbetbet range here (like Jx+), but ppl also scared of running into big hands and feeling dumb so even tho you might rep a bunch of bluffs they aren't too willing to call down w/ 99.

I think you're gonna say yes but I'll ask anyway if you'd callcallcall 99 as villain with the info villain is likely to have about you?

Ya but I don't think he has that wide of a range to begin with, calling a 3bet pre vs an unknown who looks decent given that he looks decent too. I'd be really really really surprised to see villain call down w/ A-hi on the river and I'd expect 99/TT to fold the turn a bunch, which leaves the top of his range. betbetbet probably reps a lot of bluffs, a lot of ppl have a really narrow value-betbetbet range here (like Jx+), but ppl also scared of running into big hands and feeling dumb so even tho you might rep a bunch of bluffs they aren't too willing to call down w/ 99.

I think you're gonna say yes but I'll ask anyway if you'd callcallcall 99 as villain with the info villain is likely to have about you?

If you are planning to fold 99 to a turn bet on that turn card you might as well fold it on the flop. Calling with hands that have few outs to improve just hoping to god villain gives up with 2 more streets to come is -EV in today's games, especially if your perceived calling range is wide on the flop. Everyone that watches coaching videos are taught to be aggressive.

Everyone that watches coaching videos are taught to be aggressive.

This is kinda my point. As a broad generalization I'd say SSNL vids tell you to be the aggressor and bet for value and not call down (light) without pretty specific reason cos ppl don't bluff that much (on the turn and river). So most decent+ ssnl regs don't call down that light vs someone who looks decent but who they don't have much info on.

Maybe if we all watched your vids and started thinking more about ranges and range v range -stuff it would be standard to betbetbet tp in a 3bet pot

Time Link to 00:03:57

I actually think this is really often a bluff / FPS spaz play (has a little bit to do with his stack size), but thats just my experience. Now minraises on flops/turns/rivers is often an entirely different story.