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

poemmel + tarek + oliver.

nuts imo

Time Link to 00:48:38

hahahaha it's the dutch aggression!!!!

What is this Poemmel guy?
Is he a nit?
Is he a german nit?

<3 it

actually I'm more like 200 and 400NL, 600 did go too bad

Q9 u sicko....

My thoughts on the KQ hand were:
His range is super wide.
The dynamics were just super sick preflop, everybody was playing overaggressively so its an easy call preflop.

Then on the flop I float, cause he doesn't have many TP hands, cause he won't 3bet 9Js/TJs/QJs or something like this (prolly not even KJ) so his value range is pretty slim (AJ and overpairs).

But I can have many TP Hands (QJ, TJ, KJ, AJ) and I could slowplay an overpair (dynamics and ownages in a homegame) so I think he is pretty unlikely to barrel on a brick (people also tend to be more straight forward in 3bet pots).
Plus I don't care if he barrels scare cards (the A would suck obv, despite I would turn a gutshot), cause if he barrels the Q or K i'm lovin it.

So all in all I can take it down a lot on the turn and I can pick up barrels if he bluffs on a K or Q scare card.

Basically what it comes down to is how much he would 2nd barrel a brick.
You think he would do it a lot.
I think he won't

My thoughts on the KQ hand were:
His range is super wide.
The dynamics were just super sick preflop, everybody was playing overaggressively so its an easy call preflop.

Then on the flop I float, cause he doesn't have many TP hands, cause he won't 3bet 9Js/TJs/QJs or something like this (prolly not even KJ) so his value range is pretty slim (AJ and overpairs).

But I can have many TP Hands (QJ, TJ, KJ, AJ) and I could slowplay an overpair (dynamics and ownages in a homegame) so I think he is pretty unlikely to barrel on a brick (people also tend to be more straight forward in 3bet pots).
Plus I don't care if he barrels scare cards (the A would suck obv, despite I would turn a gutshot), cause if he barrels the Q or K i'm lovin it.

So all in all I can take it down a lot on the turn and I can pick up barrels if he bluffs on a K or Q scare card.

Basically what it comes down to is how much he would 2nd barrel a brick.
You think he would do it a lot.
I think he won't

True, it boils down to assumptions. I fully agree.

One a side note: A good player will very seldom just c-bet and give up on that flop. The flop is either a check-fold or multiple barrels (no matter what turn card... well maybe not a J).

Q9 u sicko....

hahaha as I said in the chat
"don't mess with teh Poemmel"

Pretty good stuff. I really enjoyed the leveling and all that. I think the last hand for dr smooth was a pretty clear bet / fold. I think if we bet somewhere around 7.75 on the river we can still get called by some worse hands that floated the flop and made a pair, AT, JT, A8, or definitely some other hero calls that are out there. But it also acts as a blocker vs the smaller hands that still beat us, 66, 99, A9, maybe even the straights don't raise us there because they're never getting called without being beat. I'm a bit of a cash game noob as I haven't played them seriously in over a year so please feel free to rip my thoughts apart .

hahahaha it's the dutch aggression!!!!

ROFLMAO It's so true. I tell Snappie that he is a Dutch Spewtard everyday and he calls me a nit!

ROFLMAO It's so true. I tell Snappie that he is a Dutch Spewtard everyday and he calls me a nit!

i have an excuse now being a spewtard, i am dutch.

Time Link to 00:12:33

Against some opponents you can actually make a small 4-bet/fold with TT and JJ because they will often flat with AK IP and ship only pocket pairs (people assume UTG only has a pure value 4-bet range).

You could also consider developing a limping range from EP and MP if you don't think you will pick up much dead money preflop. JJ and TT are much better played with a very high SPR where you can peel a lot of flops, getting correct odds to hit your set on the turn vs. a higher pair (and you will sometimes navigate to showdown and win UI too).

I don't think the effort it takes to construct a utg limping range that isn't incredibly face up is anywhere reasonable to the ev it MIGHT gain us. I mean we'd have to have some limp/folding hands, limp/calling hands and limp/3betting hands to begin with or observign opponents will eat us alive.

To be honest I'd rather face the one or the other tough spot after raising TT/JJ UTG than using up days of my valuable study time to construct such a range.

Time Link to 00:35:08

Because this is not a spot where I expect villain to check-call a lot I will check back this flop and raise the turn with a very high frequency. If I am betting with a value hand here I have to be willing to 3-bet and get it in.

By checking we achieve so much:
We rep a weak hand that doesn't want to get check-raised, but has some showdown value.
Because of this I don't think he will automatically bet the turn with air.
However, he will lead the turn with a wide value range and we can raise large for pure value when we judge it is there and it makes the river easy to play too. We are able to leverage our position.
Because we expect his turn checking range to be so weak we can delay c-bet the turn with our air very profitably.

Because this is not a spot where I expect villain to check-call a lot I will check back this flop and raise the turn with a very high frequency. If I am betting with a value hand here I have to be willing to 3-bet and get it in.

By checking we achieve so much:
We rep a weak hand that doesn't want to get check-raised, but has some showdown value.
Because of this I don't think he will automatically bet the turn with air.
However, he will lead the turn with a wide value range and we can raise large for pure value when we judge it is there and it makes the river easy to play too. We are able to leverage our position.
Because we expect his turn checking range to be so weak we can delay c-bet the turn with our air very profitably.

Why can't you call a check-raise?

Time Link to 00:48:03

"The green-line in unimportant; it's the red-line [that matters]."

The Q9o hand I wish I could say I was doing something slightly spewy but also epic and turning 2pair into a bluff but the truth is my hand reading just let me down. I thought gelfrod was fps'ing (turned out he just got dealt a few big hands) and I wasp laying him heads up on another table so he was in my head a bit

I c/c the turn because I fugured he was floating me wide, then on the river I just made a bad play. I didn't think he would fold an ace because of the home game thing and didn't really consider just how many hands beat me on the river. Not a play I would normally make

Cool video , really look forward to next one , i love seeing everyones hold cards it provides for great analysis , more of these imo

Cool video , really look forward to next one , i love seeing everyones hold cards it provides for great analysis , more of these imo

yea good stuff

Cereus (UB & AP) has seven deuce tables.

Why can't you call a check-raise?

You can just call, but you are planning to play a guessing game when you make a thin value bet and call a check-raise on these flops. You also let the pot get very large with a marginal hand where villain has an easily balanced range. I don't like playing guessing games when IP with marginal hands so much.

Until you really know how villain plays (i.e. what he barrels the turn with, what he is raising in the first place and what size bets he will use on different turn cards) I prefer checking back the flop. A "thin-value" bet loses a lot of it's value because of the risk we are exposing ourselves to.

Also, I find people make more mistakes when I check on these flops. Very few people respond accurately when I raise their turn bet (most either ship their value range and fold too much or call with their big draws and never lead the river as a bluff when they miss).

You can just call, but you are planning to play a guessing game when you make a thin value bet and call a check-raise on these flops. You also let the pot get very large with a marginal hand where villain has an easily balanced range. I don't like playing guessing games when IP with marginal hands so much.

Until you really know how villain plays (i.e. what he barrels the turn with, what he is raising in the first place and what size bets he will use on different turn cards) I prefer checking back the flop. A "thin-value" bet loses a lot of it's value because of the risk we are exposing ourselves to.

Also, I find people make more mistakes when I check on these flops. Very few people respond accurately when I raise their turn bet (most either ship their value range and fold too much or call with their big draws and never lead the river as a bluff when they miss).

If villain is only check-raising hands with good equity and better hands for value folding is not an bad option.

If we expect villain to be check-raising a wide range we force villain to play perfect when we 3-bet.

3-betting the flop is not an option until we know that villain is shipping worse for value. Calling is much better.

Really good video, love the thought process between sugar nut and improva. Thanks, keep up the good work.

lovvveeeedddd this video

looking froward to part two!

also love the question, especially what would you do if xyz happens

i really like the questions about what to do on the turn is xyz, this is an area i really struggle on!!!! also, i got confused at first when u were talking about the wet board with the set, i thought due to no flush draw being present that it was dry, but when u listed the cards that can come on the turn to make all the striaght draws/give ppl equity, i was literally suprised!!! an area im going to have to work on- thanks for food of thought!!!

roll on part 2

btw: do you guys think that a push with the Q9o is good?

i mean: why not raise it smaller?

villian doesn't know how high we would bet a flush, so it's not even necessary for "balance" reasons

raising smaller makes it faaaar more suspicious imo.
and its homegame paranoia, so he is far more likely to call I think.

This was a great video. I look forward to the sequel.

I'm glad so many ppl liked the vid, although I'm obviously fully aware that this is mostly due to Improva and not me. Still appreciate all the nice comments. I'm super pumped for the next episode aswell. We'll have to see when we can get it done though, cos Improva is ballin' it up in Dubai this week.

Have a nice trip man!

I'm glad so many ppl liked the vid, although I'm obviously fully aware that this is mostly due to Improva and not me. Still appreciate all the nice comments. I'm super pumped for the next episode aswell. We'll have to see when we can get it done though, cos Improva is ballin' it up in Dubai this week.

Have a nice trip man!

btw: he is a nit ! a german nit !

btw: do you guys think that a push with the Q9o is good?

i mean: why not raise it smaller?

villian doesn't know how high we would bet a flush, so it's not even necessary for "balance" reasons

I have not looked at the math. It is either a check-call or a check-fold. Pushing Q9 is pure spew (people don't fold sets).

I'm glad so many ppl liked the vid, although I'm obviously fully aware that this is mostly due to Improva and not me. Still appreciate all the nice comments. I'm super pumped for the next episode aswell. We'll have to see when we can get it done though, cos Improva is ballin' it up in Dubai this week.

Have a nice trip man!

without licking up sir, and tbh, improva is the nuts, but you both bouced off eachother and had a really good vibe going, that is why this is a good video, i always feel the best videos are two way conversations, in which ppl are allowed to get things wrong or disagree, as the debates or discussions that happens afterwards is were we all learn the most, the classic example on this video of this, was where u said the board was dry, improva stepped in and said, that it wasnt and explained why, i learned a ton from that convo alone, basically i thought it was dry too coz it wasnt two tone, it help me to notice that when reading board textures i never put enough effort into taking account straight draws!!

excellant video again sir's imo

Thanks for the props, mark

I have not looked at the math. It is either a check-call or a check-fold. Pushing Q9 is pure spew (people don't fold sets).

I think he was talking about Poemmel'S shove with his Q9, in the bkind battle vs Besthand.

Thanks for the props, mark


I think he was talking about Poemmel'S shove with his Q9, in the bkind battle vs Besthand.

DOH!... obv.. ah.. sorry

I have not looked at the math. It is either a check-call or a check-fold. Pushing Q9 is pure spew (people don't fold sets).

Hey .. it's not like he can see my cards. Tbh I'd like his play if it had been bet bet c/shove, as it is, I have a hard time imagining a flush draw not firing the turn, so that leaves only the straights and all the medium strength hands that have a very hard time calling a river bet

If he bets twice, there is a lot more strengt to a check/shove .. dunno if that would be better ???????? (ignoring the possibility of a turn raise)

Hey .. it's not like he can see my cards. Tbh I'd like his play if it had been bet bet c/shove, as it is, I have a hard time imagining a flush draw not firing the turn, so that leaves only the straights and all the medium strength hands that have a very hard time calling a river bet

If he bets twice, there is a lot more strengt to a check/shove .. dunno if that would be better ???????? (ignoring the possibility of a turn raise)

Sorry. I'm not sure what you mean. Could you try to re-phrase it?

I ask, would his line make a lot more sense if he'd bet turn instead of checking .. at least checking without the intent to fold.


A bet bet c/shove looks ok maybe, no ?


The bet c/c c/shove looks wierd to me, since I'd imagine all flushdraws betting the turn (with the picked up equity + the Ace scarecard)


As it is, I considered what to do if I bet and he c/raised after seing river and decided, he'd turn enough mediocre hands into bluffs to make a call profitable and so I instacalled. Also it's a DC game and hehe .. you know

A bet bet, check-call maybe makes sense... but I think check-fold might be better. It depends a lot on the player. You can try to write down the range of hands you would be betting the river with.

this is one of the best concepts for a video i have seen. with all hole cards known + thinking players + good commentators, this video is bursting with content. maybe we will get a series like this one day? just an idea

this is one of the best concepts for a video i have seen. with all hole cards known + thinking players + good commentators, this video is bursting with content. maybe we will get a series like this one day? just an idea

I think an 8-game series like this with top players from each different game (so each rotation has a "fish" in it) would be awesome.

There is a two-part LHE home game that is of the same format as this vid.

I definitely think that "serious" home-game vids are a level above though - because we get complete information and the discussion can delve far deeper.

Time Link to 00:22:20

KQ defending 3bet IP hand:
I think both of you recommend calling preflop. And I think both of you recommend not calling on the flop without more equity and reads, and because you will get barreled and it will weaken your future perceived range. But what if you had a backdoor flush draw as well? Wouldn't folding on this flop make us defending KQo unprofitable since we won't hit a K/Q/OESD/OC+GS that much? Or did you want him to raise-fold instead, if so, what size? Thanks, Yojimgari

Time Link to 00:34:07

34:00 QJ
Should we check-raise to what size? What about a bet, to what size? Which should he do more often in this spot? Ck/r is better if he cbets a lot, how do we decide though, and what other factors are there? Thanks, Yojimgari

Time Link to 00:37:59

38:00 2.5x on button
If the blinds call less, 3bet a lot, and/or are good, then 2.5x is good. But for all other player types and unknowns, which size is best? How does this change at Rush? Thanks, Yojimgari

Time Link to 00:39:37

39:37 66 OOP on turn
Let's say villain has this preflop:
JJ-22,AQs-A9s,KJs+,QJs,JTs,AQo

And has this on the turn:
JJ,AQs-ATs,KJs+,QJs,JTs,AQo,TdTh,TdTs
And raises 4/6 sets on flop.

And will fold these hands on the turn:
AJs-ATs,KJs,JTs,JhJs,JhJc,JsJc

If that's the case then a 65% pot cbet is good. Or does he hero call JJ/ATs/JTs too much? And/or does he not float AJs/KJs on flop? Thanks, Yojimgari

Time Link to 00:46:11

46:00 Q9 bluff-raising flush river
Villain's won't always fold an over pair? Does that mean they are snap calling a straight, set, and two pair here? What should he be calling with? Thanks, Yojimgari

Time Link to 00:53:38

53:45 Q2 hand
So we should not cbet IP with 66 here? Is that because we can't double barrel? Thanks, Yojimgari

Time Link to 00:55:42

55:45 66 hand
Yes, this is a very wet flop, focus on the straight draws. The river check-raise all-in represents a value range of: Jx/9x of clubs, T8/87 of clubs, KT/T7/75, QQ, and possibly AQ, right?

Gelford needs 30.6% equity to call, I would probably snap fold I'm guessing, although I haven't done the Equilab calcs yet.

Thanks for the video! Please look into my comments? Is it possible to put all the time links into one post? Thanks, Yojimgari

KQ defending 3bet IP hand:
I think both of you recommend calling preflop. And I think both of you recommend not calling on the flop without more equity and reads, and because you will get barreled and it will weaken your future perceived range. But what if you had a backdoor flush draw as well? Wouldn't folding on this flop make us defending KQo unprofitable since we won't hit a K/Q/OESD/OC+GS that much? Or did you want him to raise-fold instead, if so, what size? Thanks, Yojimgari

Against a passive player with exploitable tendencies we can call. Against players with a poor understanding of board textures and range we can find a raise. The problem is that we are not raising this flop for value - so we can't really bluff raise.

38:00 2.5x on button
If the blinds call less, 3bet a lot, and/or are good, then 2.5x is good. But for all other player types and unknowns, which size is best? How does this change at Rush? Thanks, Yojimgari

I cannot talk about Rush poker since I have yet to play my first hand.
I would raise to 3x or 3.5x.

Rush poker I think I would min raise from all positions and play retarded loose preflop - because of the quick fold function.

39:37 66 OOP on turn
Let's say villain has this preflop:
JJ-22,AQs-A9s,KJs+,QJs,JTs,AQo

And has this on the turn:
JJ,AQs-ATs,KJs+,QJs,JTs,AQo,TdTh,TdTs
And raises 4/6 sets on flop.

And will fold these hands on the turn:
AJs-ATs,KJs,JTs,JhJs,JhJc,JsJc

If that's the case then a 65% pot cbet is good. Or does he hero call JJ/ATs/JTs too much? And/or does he not float AJs/KJs on flop? Thanks, Yojimgari

What is the question?

34:00 QJ
Should we check-raise to what size? What about a bet, to what size? Which should he do more often in this spot? Ck/r is better if he cbets a lot, how do we decide though, and what other factors are there? Thanks, Yojimgari

I would check-raise to 5.75 - 6.25 and check-raise vs players who c-bet too much. I would only check-fold vs players who have an exploitable tight c-bet range.

46:00 Q9 bluff-raising flush river
Villain's won't always fold an over pair? Does that mean they are snap calling a straight, set, and two pair here? What should he be calling with? Thanks, Yojimgari

Who is he? Preflop caller or preflop raiser?

Thanks for info Improva.

KQ hand:
In this specific spot we should fold? What if we had a backdoor flush draw as well?

2.5x on button:
Without more info on players, on a non-Rush table, you open to 3x?

66 OOP on turn:
If that's the case then a 65% pot cbet is good? Or does he hero call JJ/ATs/JTs too much? And/or does he not float AJs/KJs on flop?

QJ:
How come we aren't leading this flop instead of check-raising? Without more info are you check-raising or leading?

Q9:
I'm talking about Poemmel bluff-raising IP on the river, he's the preflop caller. Villain's won't always fold an over pair? Does that mean they are snap calling a straight, set, and two pair here? What should he be calling with?

Thanks, Yojimgari

Thanks for info Improva.

KQ hand:
In this specific spot we should fold? What if we had a backdoor flush draw as well?

I would still fold. I'm only calling if I know that villain will check-fold the turn most of the time or I'm shoving most turns.
I need a very clear plan.

2.5x on button:
Without more info on players, on a non-Rush table, you open to 3x?

yup

66 OOP on turn:
If that's the case then a 65% pot cbet is good? Or does he hero call JJ/ATs/JTs too much? And/or does he not float AJs/KJs on flop?

I'm not sure what the question is.

QJ:
How come we aren't leading this flop instead of check-raising? Without more info are you check-raising or leading?

Without more info it does not matter if we check-raise or lead. It is much more important that we do not fold.

Q9:
I'm talking about Poemmel bluff-raising IP on the river, he's the preflop caller. Villain's won't always fold an over pair? Does that mean they are snap calling a straight, set, and two pair here? What should he be calling with?

Poemmels calling range should depend on the villain. It is really narrow against most players. My shipping range is likely exploitable (it is bluff heavy). Depending on the game dynamic I will start to make thin value shoves.

First video I've ever felt compelled to comment on: excellent concept, great analysis from both and a good dynamic between you. Have just discovered improva's vids (alas, so few), and his articulate dissection of hands is extremely educational; Sugar Nut also asks great questions and makes valuable contributions. More of this format (exposed hole cards) please. Established coaches playing with DC members - with dual commentary - would be awesome.

Excellent. Sugar Nut and Improva = good dynamic! Seeing all cards is very cool too. More Please...

Time Link to 00:17:21

Love the dialog on, "I would float here with a little more equity...But, there're SUITED!"

lol Improva is the nuts!