Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by KRANTZ (Mid Stakes)

On the 88 hand, I was wondering to myself whether you would/could call a shove on the turn given some of your assumptions about what he would play that way. Here's a basic poker stove for what might be his range:

Board: Jc 2c 3c 2h
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 73.617% 73.62% 00.00% 2235 0.00 { QQ+, TcTd, TcTh, TcTs, AJs, KJs, QJs, AcKd, AcKh, AcKs, AcQd, AcQh, AcQs, AJo, AcTd, AcTh, AcTs, KcQd, KcQh, KcQs, KJo, QJo }
Hand 1: 26.383% 26.38% 00.00% 801 0.00 { 8c8s }

Note this range is negating all his flopped flushes or full houses. So I guess it's a fold.. agree?

also it looks like something like QcJx (42% equity) is where you can start calling with hands that contain a club, and something like KJ (41% equity) is where you can start calling with clubless hands

Excellent Video guys.. my favorite of the series thus far.. I've been debating on whether to play these players or not at lower stakes (1-2 - 2-4).. I generally game select a ton and avoid the TAG regs, even if I think I might have a slight edge on some I'm just giving up too much when there is still a large enough player pool to go after (plus less variance playing loose/passive fish)..

I was wondering, will this stunt my growth as a poker player in the long run when I'm looking to move up? I fear that, okay, I can beat fish/loose passives, and money is most important at this stage for a Small Stakes player.. but moving forward I might have defeciencies playing higher where most people are decent tags (I think) and the player pool gets smaller.. should I play some of these guys now for the sake of learning how to beat better players (and plugging leaks in my own game which may not be evident against fish) or is the opportunity cost too high?

Excellent Video guys.. my favorite of the series thus far.. I've been debating on whether to play these players or not at lower stakes (1-2 - 2-4).. I generally game select a ton and avoid the TAG regs, even if I think I might have a slight edge on some I'm just giving up too much when there is still a large enough player pool to go after (plus less variance playing loose/passive fish)..

I was wondering, will this stunt my growth as a poker player in the long run when I'm looking to move up? I fear that, okay, I can beat fish/loose passives, and money is most important at this stage for a Small Stakes player.. but moving forward I might have defeciencies playing higher where most people are decent tags (I think) and the player pool gets smaller.. should I play some of these guys now for the sake of learning how to beat better players (and plugging leaks in my own game which may not be evident against fish) or is the opportunity cost too high?

I'm very interested to hear pro's advice because I'm often playing the loose passive guys but try to not fight against good regukars even if I might have a small edge, and I was wondering tooif it was better for me to play them now or not.

Even at the medium/higher stakes I'm still mostly trying to target the donks. Get as good as you can at slaying them quickly and efficiently. On days where you really feel like you're on your A game, take a step down a level or two in stakes then play a regular you see playing all the time to practice against other decent players.

at the beginning of your HU journey i don't see any reason to go out of your way to play tough players unless you feel like you're on your A game and there's a shortage of donks. I don't believe it will stunt your growth much as you can always go back and fight the good regs another day.

As part of your hand reading during your HU matches vs the donks, think about how your actions might change vs different player types. Just because you're playing a weak player, it doesn't mean you can't also improve your game against other types. This is something I do during my coaching sessions with my students and encourage them to try to think about on their own.

WoT

One of the things i disagree with in this series is your reccomended tightness PF.....Krantz says several times "well i play this but y'all probably shouldn't".....It's like a "do as I say and not as i do" approach which i believe is totally wrong, ESPECIALLY at the lower limits (i usually play 1-2)...It seems like many of the players at 1-2 are playing that solid preflop game and they know how to react to it when i play that style. When i play super aggro preflop (58/50) they have no clue how to adjust and most donks at lower limits will adjust by playing horribly postflop.

I appreciate that Krantz and WOT are are far superior players but i think this is negated by the fact that you guys play higher stakes and better opponents. Anyway, i think laggtard preflop (within reason) is by far the most profitable way to go at these smailler stakes and was curious what you guys thought?

I love this series a lot. I assume an upcoming episode will discuss deep-stacked HUHU, amirite?

I love this series a lot. I assume an upcoming episode will discuss deep-stacked HUHU, amirite?

Not in this series. I'm going to do a more advanced series at mid stakes later this year, and I'll get into that stuff then.

One of the things i disagree with in this series is your reccomended tightness PF.....Krantz says several times "well i play this but y'all probably shouldn't".....It's like a "do as I say and not as i do" approach which i believe is totally wrong, ESPECIALLY at the lower limits (i usually play 1-2)...It seems like many of the players at 1-2 are playing that solid preflop game and they know how to react to it when i play that style. When i play super aggro preflop (58/50) they have no clue how to adjust and most donks at lower limits will adjust by playing horribly postflop.

I appreciate that Krantz and WOT are are far superior players but i think this is negated by the fact that you guys play higher stakes and better opponents. Anyway, i think laggtard preflop (within reason) is by far the most profitable way to go at these smailler stakes and was curious what you guys thought?

Well, BOOGIE, I don't know about lagtard, but you're definitely right about loosening up. Remember though that I only advocate being that tight to start out and once you identify your opponent, loosen up as needed to exploit their particular General strategy.

I am very interested with the 88 hand aswell.

I play very poorly in 3bet aswell, and often call/stack off when Im way behind and do stupid stuff like the AT hand villain hand in the KK hand so I feel unstanding more 3bet hands is critical to help me get better.

Given the range parlay slow gave us this looks like a fold (though I would have been calling all day long before he gave us the pokerstove calc).
Can you give us some more info as to what his range was and whether parlay slow is correct?

Just for some feedback. I think your series is great, and I have really found this series help me find holes in my oppoenents and has helped me found my holes in my own game.
Your idea that a lot of TAGs think the same is correct. I think this way (though Im not a 2+2er) and your quote that a lot of TAG make a fwe hopeless big bluffs without really thinking about the metagame is definitely true.
One of the biggest leaks I think I have is I know people's exact range yet I still make that treple barrel bluff believing they fold when I just 4bet them light/ repetively kept bullying them.
Anyways thats enough of the rabbling Just very enlightened I have managed to find a hole in my game, just now need to fix it.

Very Insightful. 5/5

krantz,
when you lead the turn on the 8d6d hand on K6JJ board, what is your plan if he calls your bet ($20 on $30)?
do you just check/fold the river? do you lead again? if you lead, what cards?
in this case you were turning 86s into a bluff (I can be wrong), but he still may peel your turn bet with something like AT or QT and check back the river. besides bluffing/valuebetting JX, what other hands do you bet the turn/river for value? remember that you flatcalled preflop which makes it VERY unlikely that you are betting KQ or AK for value.. so basically you have a Jack, 6's or nothing.

krantz,
when you lead the turn on the 8d6d hand on K6JJ board, what is your plan if he calls your bet ($20 on $30)?
do you just check/fold the river? do you lead again? if you lead, what cards?
in this case you were turning 86s into a bluff (I can be wrong), but he still may peel your turn bet with something like AT or QT and check back the river. besides bluffing/valuebetting JX, what other hands do you bet the turn/river for value? remember that you flatcalled preflop which makes it VERY unlikely that you are betting KQ or AK for value.. so basically you have a Jack, 6's or nothing.

I would either give up or bet huge on the river depending on how tight my image was and how smart my opponent was. The smarter he is and the tighter my image, the better it is to follow through.

It doesn't matter if I only bet Jx for value there if I never bluff and my opponent knows that, which is why a bluff now and then makes sense.

@wiltontilt

I play 1/2 and just recently got rolled for 2/4. At 2/4 it seems that it takes quite a while to find a donk. Even at 1/2, it can take quite a while. This is why while waiting for phish to sit I play TAG regs at .50/1 and hope to start playing them at 1/2 very soon. I figure that once I am grinding mid stakes, if I can get twice as many hands an hour in by playing both regs and donks, it is much more profitable than strictly playing donks. I also feel it improves my game quite a bit. These days there are just soooo many regs open sitting that I feel its necessary to play some TAG regs to maintain a decent number of hands per hour, since it can take a long time for a donk to sit at your table. I generally go through the lobby, PTRing all the regs and playing ones who break even or lose a little bit, maybe some who win a tiny bit. I know that they have many leaks, if they've played a lot of hands yet are break even, and getting in hands is most important to me. I try to get in 10,000 hands a week and will be shooting for 16,000 in a month when I get out of school, and I think the only way to do this at the midstakes is to play tag regs quite often.

@wiltontilt

I play 1/2 and just recently got rolled for 2/4. At 2/4 it seems that it takes quite a while to find a donk. Even at 1/2, it can take quite a while. This is why while waiting for phish to sit I play TAG regs at .50/1 and hope to start playing them at 1/2 very soon. I figure that once I am grinding mid stakes, if I can get twice as many hands an hour in by playing both regs and donks, it is much more profitable than strictly playing donks. I also feel it improves my game quite a bit. These days there are just soooo many regs open sitting that I feel its necessary to play some TAG regs to maintain a decent number of hands per hour, since it can take a long time for a donk to sit at your table. I generally go through the lobby, PTRing all the regs and playing ones who break even or lose a little bit, maybe some who win a tiny bit. I know that they have many leaks, if they've played a lot of hands yet are break even, and getting in hands is most important to me. I try to get in 10,000 hands a week and will be shooting for 16,000 in a month when I get out of school, and I think the only way to do this at the midstakes is to play tag regs quite often.

This sounds like a very good strategy. HUNL is somewhat of a dying game I think. So many people just sit around waiting for easy money and not progressing their game much. Of course everyone has the right to game select as they please, it just makes finding action much slower and forces you to start thinking outside the box to find/generate new action.

WoT

Time Link to 00:40:23

if the A came on the turn and we bet and he calls, whats our river plan?

if the A comes on the turn, we bet and he shoves, are we still calling?

if the A came on the turn and we bet and he calls, whats our river plan?

if the A comes on the turn, we bet and he shoves, are we still calling?

the better the player, the more often i value shove the river even after we value bet an A turn

if the A comes on the turn i would call a shove from villain because i think no hand makes sense to shove there and he could easily be floating the flop with any of the many gutshots and then deciding that we are barreling that card very often and therefore semibluff ship the turn. A play like that is not very uncommon in the high stakes hu games today. It is an OK play against a bad value bettor (ie one that would check KK on this turn) and therefore its only Ax and air, but vs a good value bettor who can bet/call here with all their flop value range, it's not so hot)

WoT

Time Link to 00:29:10

Hi KRANTZ, you say this is an ultimate card to double barrel, but surely if you hold a K (say AK, KQ, KJ) would you really cbet the flop not being worried about getting check/raised off your hand? When you cbet that flop the TAG must recognize you're generally checking back majority of range that misses the board ie A, K, Q and so when you barrel the K on the turn surely it's unlikely that you hold the K so wouldn't a thinking TAG peel one more street with 86, 97..etc? Also, being a TAG himself he'd recognize that you're betting almost 100% of scare cards so it gives him even more incentive to peel?

Hi KRANTZ, you say this is an ultimate card to double barrel, but surely if you hold a K (say AK, KQ, KJ) would you really cbet the flop not being worried about getting check/raised off your hand? When you cbet that flop the TAG must recognize you're generally checking back majority of range that misses the board ie A, K, Q and so when you barrel the K on the turn surely it's unlikely that you hold the K so wouldn't a thinking TAG peel one more street with 86, 97..etc? Also, being a TAG himself he'd recognize that you're betting almost 100% of scare cards so it gives him even more incentive to peel?

that's a good point. if you're not c-betting often then betting the turn narrows your range and makes it easier for your opponent to call down.