What's it like to start over from scratch? Entity and DeucesCracked member PygmyHero explore that question in Real Life: Microlimit Grinder. PygmyHero has been playing the microlimits over the past several years, but has struggled to win in the post-UIGEA climate. From table and seat selection to tilt control and in-depth hand analysis, Entity and PygmyHero work on every aspect of becoming a better poker player in an effort to reshape Pygmy's game.
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In Episode Two of Real Life Microlimit Grinder, Entity and PygmyHero start to look deeper into PygmyHero's game, focusing on blind defense and stealing. Featuring specific focus on defense and stealing from the small blind, using your positional advantage, and tips and tricks for picking up spots to raise preflop and make yourself a very difficult player to play against.
Posted 10 months ago
tags: entity pygmyhero microlimit grinder small stakes limit hold'em small blind defense ipod friendly getting pots heads up handranges handreading limit hold'em coaching session hold'em manager blind stealing
Micro/Small Stakes,
58 min long
Comments for Episode Two
Entity
FounderBefore anyone asks...in the hand I took the screenshot from (the KJhh) hand, I've convinced myself that a check-call is better because fold equity really doesn't matter here and I think it allows you to not get raised, checkraise the river when you improve, and occasionally get worse hands to take a stab that will check behind on the river. If the turn were any other heart, specifically the 6h-Th, I think you should be betting though.
Just in case anyone asks.
Rob
Posted 10 months ago
PygmyHero
11:33 - I'm referring to an old Entity thread, Fastplaying is the New Slowplaying.
27:27 - Since Rob and I had this conversation the topic of cool completing has come up in the a Beginner LHE forum thread, and an article Rob wrote. For more, also see King Yao's Weighing the Odds in Hold 'Em Poker, page 280:
Chapter: Common Mistakes in Short Handed Play
Mistake #11: Frequently Calling Raises in the Small Blind.
~50 - I didn't articulate this very well at the time of our session, but what I was trying to say was:
Situation A: Villain limps, Hero iso-raises, both Blinds fold, Villain calls. Hero has some amount of equity in a 5.5 SB pot. Let's say it comes out to x small bets.
Situation B: Villain limps, Hero calls, CO calls, BTN calls, SB completes, BB checks. In this case Hero has some equity in a 6 SB pot, which, let's say comes out to y small bets.
If x > y then raising was the better play.
Although the pot may be bigger (due to more players) in Situation B, this does not sufficiently compensate the Hero for all the equity those additional players are taking away from him.
While I was babbling in the video what I was trying to say was something like, 'As more players are added the Hero's equity is dropping more quickly than the pot size is growing.'
Posted 10 months ago
HLS2k6
Great video guys. I like to play along at home with my own stats while watching. Learn alot of new things and reinforced a ton of other stuff. I especially liked your use of Rob's stats and hands as benchmarks.
Posted 10 months ago
MickeyWins
Excellent video Entity!!
In SB vs BB battles. is a good default to raise from SB with the same hands you would steal from btn, around 45%, and to limp with some portion of the rest of hands?
if we do limp some portion of the time like say vs a LP BB, must we always call a raise?
Posted 10 months ago
Entity
FounderI usually only limp vs. people who are incredibly tricky or incredibly straightforward postflop. Vs the rest I tend to raise/fold.
Rob
Posted 10 months ago
beyazkus
hi entity,
thank you for this informative video. your comment to cc from the sb with pairs 44-77 after another player cc's has made me notice that i don't have a default strategy in that particular area and have never come across any suggestions in the literature.
i tried to put together a good range to cc from the sb with
1) a raiser and a cc'er
2) a raiser and two cc'ers
i came up with the following hand ranges, assumming previous cc (or cc's)and the bb are slightly on the loose passive side:
1) CC: 44-88, QJs, QTs, JTs
3-bet: 99+, ATs+, KJs+, AJo+, KQo
2) CC: 44-88, ATs, KJs, QJs, QTs, JTs, T9s, J9s
3-bet: 99+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+
i would very much like to hear your thoughts and comments about the ranges above, and which ranges you use in similar scenarios.
kind regards,
beyazkus
Posted 10 months ago
bellatrix
This episode reminded me of Joe Tall's: "People do stupid things on paired boards!"
Great analysis Rob! I loved your explanation on increasing our implied odds with a hand like KJs by 3-betting on the SB.
Posted 10 months ago
Entity
Founder1) CC: 44-99, JTs+, KJs, KQs.
3-bet: TT+, AJs (sometimes), AQs+, AQo+
I fold KQo sometimes, depending on the player who raised and the relative position (raiser, coldcaller is different than limper, raiser). This is in both spots but I'm more likely to call with KQo in #2.
2) CC: 22-99, T9s+, ATs-AJs, KTs+, KQo.
3-bet: TT+, AQs+, AQo (sometimes), AKo
I tend to think that way too many people bloat the pot too much from the small blind in these spots and overvalue preflop edge while diminishing the value of preserving implied odds and not committing yourself to flops/turns that aren't necessarily great for your range vs. the field.
Rob
Posted 10 months ago
Entity
FounderThanks. It's not really that you "preserve" your implied odds as much as it is that in blind battles, people go apeshit anyway, so you get about the same amount of implied odds but have a slightly higher chance of your opponent calling down with worse or going nuts with worse. This changes both your effective odds since you are always seeing the turn and usually the river. Given that you don't hit very often and you usually *want* your opponent to be folding his hand as quickly as possible more often than you want to be getting called down, it really shows a lot about why you don't want to coldcall in these spots. Given the average amount a hand is actually worth, when a pot is going to be 5-7SB, you really do want to encourage folds more often than you want to encourage calls.
Rob
Posted 10 months ago
imnuts4u
two episodes into the series and already my game has changed:
before: 23.5/15.8
since: 26.2/18.6
surprisingly enough, my winrate is nearly double over the latter stretch. huh.
thanks guys. can't wait to catch up to where you are now. and after this series, i am looking forward to 'shouldn't fold'.
later.
Posted 8 months ago
nogare
Hi Guys! Just wanted to say that i really love this video series and your game! I started to learn poker at pokerstrategy and they are teaching a very TAG-Style which i dont like so much. Hope i can improve my game here! Regards from Poland!
Posted 5 months ago