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

Time Link to 00:15:11

What adjustments would you make preflop in BVB situations when the blind structure is 2/5? Also, I have 770 hands on this player and he is 25/18/1.2...His WTS is 46%.

What adjustments should we be making since he has such a high WTS?

I would fold 75o from the SB here given the blind structure, the villians WTS and also the fact that he is a tough player. I may be playing too tight in these situations.

Against players who will fight back in situations like this, is it better to tighten up and not get involved as much? Or should we be making adjustments post flop and getting to showdown more or taking the fight back too them?

I feel as though quite often I raise preflop, bet the flop and they call and then get in tough spots from the turn onward. I do CR the turn after being in the lead on occassion which I think is a good idea. I still think I need work in these situations.

Time Link to 01:02:55

Hypothetical: If the hero would have checked this turn and You were in Wurst spot would a bet be good with a hand like TT,99? The hero would never check an Ace and he most likely doesn't have KQ since he capped preflop, would probably bet again on the turn along with QQ. Therefore, the hero has JJ,TT and maybe 99. Sethypooh will 3b lightly preflop and peel lightly post flop given the size of the pot. Sethy pooh would have raised an Ace on the flop.

Time Link to 00:16:41

Yeah I'll yell here and say that people never fold here.

Basically this guy's flop calling range is some pairs and Jx/Tx. If the river is a 2, then I like betting a lot more. There's just not much incentive for this guy to fold the river even with Tx.

You guys talked a bit about having a turn c/r range, which I agree wholeheartedly with. But the reason that having a turn c/r range is good (besides for balance considerations) is that people assume you are weak when you check the turn. That means they won't want to fold pairs on the river.

Also, there was some talk about setting up a dynamic where this guy v-checks turns often against us letting us make thin v-bets on the river. But once we see that he's v-checking turns a lot with middle pair type hands, won't we completely stop going for turn c/r with our strong hands? Meaning that this river dynamic is again thrown off. We won't have many value hands at all in our river betting range. Doesn't apply for this specific hand since those adjustments haven't been made yet, or course.

So yeah, long winded way of saying that I think a bluff on this river is disastrous. In theory he might not be correct to call very often (although that assumption depends on us having a fairly strong/balanced turn checking range), but most guys won't pick up on that anyway.

watching the first 2mins of the episode , i am a 5/10 reg now and those seats are horrible. On the left who cares if sethy is on auto pilot hes still gonna make less mistakes than u think , omg mrfokko is 23/16 nit , then u have wurst2000 wow is an old style tag (26/18/3). Jstana is the only short stack fish at the table. This table is horrible! Good luck winning money (sethy is gonna raise u out of everypot)!

The table on the right is only mildly better. HORJ is probably a fish but then u have the bgates 28/20 solid reg. idk discover2 guy but i say hes fishy cuz hes short. Then u have chezlaw & slappinhoez , 2 more regs btw!

I don't sit at either of them. Just because it's 5/10 now doesn't mean u can ignore seat selection. The rake is still very high. Few people exceed 1bb/100 over large samples these days and they dont do it sitting in those seats.

ok im done with seat selection rant.... i guess ill finish watching vid

Time Link to 00:04:46

oh god i fold 75o with chez in the BB

"Have we got any reads on Slappin Hoz ability to take three to the face"

One of the best lines ever...vid is good, I like the discussion group format a lot. I think just check/folding the JJ when the Q turns in that big pot is much better than betting given our detailed reads on the tight villain to our left.

oh god i fold 75o with chez in the BB

Isn't chez really tight? I'd raise vs. players who are really tight, and from what I remember about him he's tight and semi-straightforward, which is a great player type to attack with a wide range in the SB.

Rob

"Have we got any reads on Slappin Hoz ability to take three to the face"

And then he did

Yeah I'll yell here and say that people never fold here.

Basically this guy's flop calling range is some pairs and Jx/Tx. If the river is a 2, then I like betting a lot more. There's just not much incentive for this guy to fold the river even with Tx.

Well, part of the reason I want to have people yell is to post hands where they either valuebet thin on this board texture and got called by worse, or when they bluffed and it didn't work. Otherwise we're still at the anecdotal point where we say that most of his range is heavily weighted toward weak hands (he doesn't have many solo Jx hands that call that flop, IMO), but we're not bluffing because people just "say" he doesn't fold.

The main point about the rant, besides to explore handranges overall, was to determine that we autopilot too many decisions based on limited information, even when our opponent's handranges are really clear, because of truisms like "people never fold a pair." I think it's ideal to avoid those sort of truisms unless met by a glut of other information, and from what I've seen in these games people are missing profitable bluffing spots because they're afraid they are going to be called 70% of the time (so what?).

Rob

Isn't chez really tight? I'd raise vs. players who are really tight, and from what I remember about him he's tight and semi-straightforward, which is a great player type to attack with a wide range in the SB.

Rob

43k hands Fold BB to steal 46% , WTSD 44 , he never folds IMO

would u open 75o in this structure now?

43k hands Fold BB to steal 46% , WTSD 44 , he never folds IMO

would u open 75o in this structure now?

You've got a ton of hands on him, how often does he fold BB to steal HU vs SB?

Rob

43k hands Fold BB to steal 46% , WTSD 44 , he never folds IMO

would u open 75o in this structure?

Thanks for the read

I don't think the structure is going to have an effect on my opening ranges here, If I wasn't going to open it, it would be cause of the player not the structure

It`s been a while since i played chezlaw, but seeing as he is probably a regular in these games, should we be stealing with 75o? EVEN though he folds his BB to a steal too much, he might not be folding it vs a sb steal? Proper blind war strategy would either be to try to run him completely over, or just kinda play snug and look for better spots vs the weaker players at the table?

oh god i fold 75o with chez in the BB

I totally agree with you here. You are going to get 3b a ton and he is definately the type who will be fighting back. He also has a high WTS. I am still looking for input on how this changes are range and strategy against a player like this.

watching the first 2mins of the episode , i am a 5/10 reg now and those seats are horrible. On the left who cares if sethy is on auto pilot hes still gonna make less mistakes than u think , omg mrfokko is 23/16 nit , then u have wurst2000 wow is an old style tag (26/18/3). Jstana is the only short stack fish at the table. This table is horrible! Good luck winning money (sethy is gonna raise u out of everypot)!

The table on the right is only mildly better. HORJ is probably a fish but then u have the bgates 28/20 solid reg. idk discover2 guy but i say hes fishy cuz hes short. Then u have chezlaw & slappinhoez , 2 more regs btw!

I don't sit at either of them. Just because it's 5/10 now doesn't mean u can ignore seat selection. The rake is still very high. Few people exceed 1bb/100 over large samples these days and they dont do it sitting in those seats.

ok im done with seat selection rant.... i guess ill finish watching vid

I agree these are tough tables. Sethy Pooh is barely a winner if at all in these games but does make money since he plays so many hands. He has some exploitable tenencies and although I am not thrilled to have him in my game I am also not overly concerned since I have such a good read on him. Wurst is exactly as you described him. His straightforwardnes makes him easier to play against.

Isn't chez really tight? I'd raise vs. players who are really tight, and from what I remember about him he's tight and semi-straightforward, which is a great player type to attack with a wide range in the SB.

Rob

33%

33% Fold BB to steal HU

33% Fold BB to steal HU

That seems pretty high for defending in position vs a SB open.

I mean I highly doubt we're in "Defend 100% territory" given rake and that we're not up against humongous monster players but folding 1/3rd of your hands in that situation seems pretty tight.

Not saying 75o's a snap-open by any means but if that's true I can understand it although personally I'd probably chuck it but it's closer than I think is being given credit for.

33% Fold BB to steal HU

I'm not sure if that encompasses SB vs BB, but if it does, I'm definitely raising 75o preflop. If you win 1.5BB 1/3 of the time, you're going to have to be up against an opponent with an *insane* edge on you postflop for you to worry about losing that much the other 2/3 of the time.

That said, I'd suspect that also includes times that someone raises from CO or BTN and SB folds, so he may be folding more like 25% of the time HU SB vs BB, but that's still very tight and I'd still be inclined to raise 75o vs. that.

Rob

I totally agree with you here. You are going to get 3b a ton and he is definately the type who will be fighting back. He also has a high WTS. I am still looking for input on how this changes are range and strategy against a player like this.

Note that later he didn't 3-bet KQo vs our SB open. He's not 3-betting a ton.

Rob

That said, I'd suspect that also includes times that someone raises from CO or BTN and SB folds, so he may be folding more like 25% of the time HU SB vs BB, but that's still very tight and I'd still be inclined to raise 75o vs. that.

I'm pretty sure Fold BB to Steal HU is just SB vs BB so it would be 33%

We've already got 46% earlier as his Fold BB to Steal overall.

Not that this information was available to us at the time but it was kinda suspected

I'm pretty suprised of this talk of wether to open 75o here. I mean I probably haven't worked hard enough on my blind battle situations so maybe I'm being a bit wreckless but I tend to open 75o against pretty much anyone and I play 2/4, 3/6 where the rake is at it's worst and on Ipoker as well.
What kind of opponent would you least like the 75o open vs.?

Another good video, nicely done

Hypothetical: If the hero would have checked this turn and You were in Wurst spot would a bet be good with a hand like TT,99? The hero would never check an Ace and he most likely doesn't have KQ since he capped preflop, would probably bet again on the turn along with QQ. Therefore, the hero has JJ,TT and maybe 99. Sethypooh will 3b lightly preflop and peel lightly post flop given the size of the pot. Sethy pooh would have raised an Ace on the flop.

If I were in Wurst's spot I'd just fold TT or 99 on the flop. I guess if I had a BDFD I'd call, so let's assume I had a BDFD, I called the flop, I turned nothing, I'd just check back because I think that I'm going to get called down by JJ-KK too often overall in a 3-way pot and I can still get checkraised.

Rob

What kind of opponent would you least like the 75o open vs.?

Opponents that:

1) Never fold their BB HU (I imagine most LAGTAGs will defend 80%+ in this situation and in low rake games 100% has been suggested)

2) 3-bet ad nauseum in SB vs BB situations knowing you're on a wide range for opening the Small. As a guideline, in a 1/2 Structure where the Small is probably opening between 55% and 70% of his hands the BB can profitably 3-bet about 30% of his hands, maybe more given positional advantage. If this is happening regularly I don't want to be OOP and opening light on this guy. The fact it's BvB means even some standard TAGGY players will start mega-3-betting in this situation since it's a well known case where ranges are pretty weak mainly.

3) Make you life hell when they have position on you. Raise flops with pairs/draws/air/balanced range.

Cheers Boomer, yeh I should probably take the more stress free and bankroll saving route of folding some of these vs strong lag-tags and possibly vs maniacs too if I'm always being 3bet pre-f and then will rarely be able to bluff-semi-bluff the opponent off of a Khi hand post flop.
I usually favour opening something like 75o or 84s over something like Q3o though just due to playability but that may be a leak.

Cheers Boomer, yeh I should probably take the more stress free and bankroll saving route of folding some of these vs strong lag-tags and possibly vs maniacs too if I'm always being 3bet pre-f and then will rarely be able to bluff-semi-bluff the opponent off of a Khi hand post flop.
I usually favour opening something like 75o or 84s over something like Q3o though just due to playability but that may be a leak.

Against strong lag tags you definitely should be considering folding this. Against maniacs you can make an argument for just calling -- against really really good TAGs you can do the same, I think (it's probably a fold at $5/10 but I think limping in the SB can be a very very valid strategy against good TAG BB opponents as long as you can do it with a reasonably balanced range).

Rob

Hi thanks for the info.
I always do consider folding it right before opening it 100% of the time, I just need to work on actually pressing that fold button.
Regarding 'it's probably a fold at $5/$10', is that mainly due to the rake?

The rake at 5/T is definitely a factor (Think it's about 2.6BB/100) but what is also a factor on Stars is that it's a 2/5 structure so instead of getting even money on a steal you're now putting in 8 to win 7, meaning you have to win the pot more often for it to be profitable.

Both of these variables dicatate tighter play from the SB certainly.

Time Link to 01:14:47

The KQo hand with an UTG PFR-er and a cold caller to us on the BTN:

One factor that I think wasn't discussed enough here is the benefit of knocking out the blinds and getting that dead ~1.5 big blinds into the pot. I actually was just discussing an almost exactly identical spot with a student the other day. We went over a Stove giving the players in front a reasonable range and then looking at our equity in 5-way and 3-way pots.

Actually, to be a bit more precise we looked at our +EV in those spots (that is, pot size * equity - amount invested PF). Now clearly PF hot/cold equity is never the full story but I think it's a good starting point for a lot of problems. In our situation we found that cold calling was worth 0.4 small bets, but raising and knocking out the blinds was worth over 0.6. That's a pretty decent increase imo.

Obviously this spot would come out a bit differently but I'd be surprised if raising isn't going to come out ahead unless we can drill down UTG and CO's range to BOTH be pretty tight.

Time Link to 01:24:15

I love calling and betting when checked to here. Besides exploiting the (imo) overly aggressive tendencies of many regs, I think there's some really cool meta stuff that Rob touched on a bit. Basically I think it is confusing / looks stupid (maybe just unusual), which can lead opponents to play incorrectly against me in other spots. Also, I think it makes playing this sort of spot OOP really tough for villain - obviously they can't just check and hand out free cards all over the place.

I have seen a lot of players be good enough to get away when I start putting in more action on the flop or turn, but I have yet to see a really good adjustment that made me feel I'M the one being exploited when I occasionally take this line.

Andrew, just a general comment as I know this was one of your first shots at 5/10. I feel like you were expecting the game to be significantly different than 2/4 and 3/6. I could be wrong about this but it looked to me a bit like you were worried people were taking shots at you (maybe since you're new/unknown) and you decided to show down more lightly to prevent this. I wish I would have noted the time stamps now, but I know there was one or two pretty questionable ace high call downs, and at least one spot where I think you should have folded KQo on the turn when you bricked (failed to pick up your BDFD against a guy who check/raised the flop 4 handed - in other words, NOT a bluff spot).

And just to be clear, I am NOT including the KJo call down here (TT4Ax board), which I think was good. I would have usually barreled the turn A instead but as played I like your decision to call the river and get shown the fullest house.

I'm guessing here but I think you might be expecting to see a much higher level of aggression and bluffs. This is partly true, but it's important to realize that, as with most things in poker, it's VERY situational dependent. To make an extreme example, if it gets capped on the turn and river...the dude has the nuts JUST as often in 5/10 as he did in 2/4. He's not just being more aggressive because that's how these games play. On the flip side, a rather obvious spot where players certainly are amping up the aggression would be, say...the CO opening range.

Basically what I'm saying is on that KQo hand when the player with 99 x/r's he has KQ beaten and that doesn't really change whether it's 2/4 or 5/10. Make sure you don't over adjust.