Poker Video: Limit Hold'Em by BigBadBabar (Micro/Small Stakes)

Time Link to 00:25:26

I think that it is super terrible value bet on river. You have 55 percent equity vs random hand. He can call with worse but I think that he will call or checkraise with better much more often (he can even checkraise you like bluff sometimes and you will fold)

The games looked really good ! I can see the Merge site becoming a lot busier since you made this video !

I found the rabbit hunting feature quite amusing, as I had not seen it on a poker site before.

It was nice to see you making a video again and I look forward to seeing some more from you now, perhaps at your usually higher stakes.

A thread about Merge rake that someone sent me:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/rake-comparison-merge-vs-ps-ft-6-max-lmt-holdem-1029288/

I think that it is super terrible value bet on river. You have 55 percent equity vs random hand. He can call with worse but I think that he will call or checkraise with better much more often (he can even checkraise you like bluff sometimes and you will fold)

I agree it's a pretty gross board. My thinking at the time was something like: Given that he donked the flop with a piece, I'd expect him to have donked the turn with improvement sometimes (obviously he didn't in this hand) or have donked a river straight often. So once he checks I feel better about things and feel like he's in the weaker part of his range. I think a checkback is fine though, like you said he will checkraise sometimes which is super gross and not something I want to face.

I will say in general though, especially in games that tend to have a lot of showdown-bound players, that being a little too valuebetty is probably better than being not quite valuebetty enough.

The games looked really good ! I can see the Merge site becoming a lot busier since you made this video !

I found the rabbit hunting feature quite amusing, as I had not seen it on a poker site before.

It was nice to see you making a video again and I look forward to seeing some more from you now, perhaps at your usually higher stakes.

Yeah I don't think I've played on a site with rabbit hunting before, come to think of it. The games are really good. Thanks for watching!

Nice video, sir! I always like the way you talk through your thought process. Reminds me that I need to rewatch both your 'Peanut' series.

Is the action mostly 6max on Merge or is there any FR going?

Mostly 6m, but some FR. I see a 3/6 FR often going, and most always there's a 1/2, .5/1, and .25/50 FR (or more than 1 per stake). I would imagine as traffic picks up there will be more FR.

Mostly 6m, but some FR. I see a 3/6 FR often going, and most always there's a 1/2, .5/1, and .25/50 FR (or more than 1 per stake). I would imagine as traffic picks up there will be more FR.

Thanks BBB. I'm from the UK so am still playing on Stars but, obviously, I also want to keep track of where the best action is. It'll be interesting to see how it develops.

Time Link to 00:39:19

isnt the 45s coldcap worth a note?
nice vid btw.

isnt the 45s coldcap worth a note?
nice vid btw.

Yeah, it was. I already had the guy marked as bad in a couple of ways (mostly loose passive I think) but it's worth noting that he can spazz out like that.

I think that it is super terrible value bet on river. You have 55 percent equity vs random hand. He can call with worse but I think that he will call or checkraise with better much more often (he can even checkraise you like bluff sometimes and you will fold)

Pretty strongly disagree. Stoving against "random" isn't helpful here as random hands have a lot of 2pr and straights, but most of them fold pre-river or checkraise pre-river, allowing you to narrow it down to significantly more 1pr combos that will pay off. I'd expect a donk with a lot of improved river cards as well.

Rob

Pretty strongly disagree. Stoving against "random" isn't helpful here as random hands have a lot of 2pr and straights, but most of them fold pre-river or checkraise pre-river, allowing you to narrow it down to significantly more 1pr combos that will pay off. I'd expect a donk with a lot of improved river cards as well.

Rob

Yeah but when you think this way you should also assume that he folds hands like K4-2o,Q4-Q2 53o, and many many other total air on flop or turn and you will continue only vs range which connect with this board. Your equity go much down. I know this situation is not about equity vs random hand but you must see that it was huge -EV bet. You can bet out of position here and I will ok with it, but when you are in position here it is very bad value bet.

Time Link to 00:49:10

With the 34s, I think if you're gonna continue, I would raise the flop rather than call. For one extra sb, you can hopefully buy the button and take control of the hand. This would allow you to just bet the turn and give yourself a free SD a lot of the time vs. a donker who you perceive to have a weak/drawy range.

With the 34s, I think if you're gonna continue, I would raise the flop rather than call. For one extra sb, you can hopefully buy the button and take control of the hand. This would allow you to just bet the turn and give yourself a free SD a lot of the time vs. a donker who you perceive to have a weak/drawy range.

I like this - you're right and upon looking at it again I think a raise is better than a call. The pot is a reasonable size as well, which makes it more worth fighting for aggressively.

Yeah but when you think this way you should also assume that he folds hands like K4-2o,Q4-Q2 53o, and many many other total air on flop or turn and you will continue only vs range which connect with this board. Your equity go much down. I know this situation is not about equity vs random hand but you must see that it was huge -EV bet. You can bet out of position here and I will ok with it, but when you are in position here it is very bad value bet.

Until you put a range in here that you actually think is realistic for your opponent (keeping in mind how many 2pr, straights, sets, and good 1pr+ hands checkraise flop or turn), I'm going to continue to disagree. This isn't about getting value from Q4o (which is irrelevant here) it's about getting value from K7, K8, K9, Q8, Q9, etc, when you expect that lots of other hands that beat you would have given action differently pre-river. Is it thin? Yes. But I think it's good.

Rob

Until you put a range in here that you actually think is realistic for your opponent (keeping in mind how many 2pr, straights, sets, and good 1pr+ hands checkraise flop or turn), I'm going to continue to disagree. This isn't about getting value from Q4o (which is irrelevant here) it's about getting value from K7, K8, K9, Q8, Q9, etc, when you expect that lots of other hands that beat you would have given action differently pre-river. Is it thin? Yes. But I think it's good.

Rob

Ok. You can get value from KT-K7,QT-Q7 maybe 84,85,95 it is all. It is very few combos. But 6x,Jx and two pairs it is 10 times more combos.Even if he will call with every single one pair hand you still losing money. You should look on all possible hands and you will see that is very very hard find hands which you beat. It is not thin. This value bet can be ok only if opponent will have all hands like 92o,T2o,93o,72o, 82o,T4o and he will always call with them.

Ok. You can get value from KT-K7,QT-Q7 maybe 84,85,95 it is all. It is very few combos. But 6x,Jx and two pairs it is 10 times more combos.Even if he will call with every single one pair hand you still losing money. You should look on all possible hands and you will see that is very very hard find hands which you beat. It is not thin. This value bet can be ok only if opponent will have all hands like 92o,T2o,93o,72o, 82o,T4o and he will always call with them.

I don't understand how you give him "6x Jx and two pairs" when Jx doesn't just randomly decide to check-call the flop, nor does 6x. You need to give him a realistic range that fits all streets, and also consider that you're going to be checkraised on the turn when your opponent has many combos that you're afraid of (65, JT, and frequently (but not always) 98, 97, 87, etc).

Your story needs to tell the FULL story - not just what hands are combinatorically possible but what their likelihood is based on the full action of the hand. When you give a 100% weighting to 6x combos you aren't doing that.

Rob

I don't understand how you give him "6x Jx and two pairs" when Jx doesn't just randomly decide to check-call the flop, nor does 6x. You need to give him a realistic range that fits all streets, and also consider that you're going to be checkraised on the turn when your opponent has many combos that you're afraid of (65, JT, and frequently (but not always) 98, 97, 87, etc).

Your story needs to tell the FULL story - not just what hands are combinatorically possible but what their likelihood is based on the full action of the hand. When you give a 100% weighting to 6x combos you aren't doing that.

Rob

I gived him all possible garbage becase he donk/call flop and you told that you want get value from hands like K9,K8,K7,Q8,Q9 whitch means that you want get value from total air in his range on flop because Q9 and K9 is air. If you give him just all pairs and gutshots on flop your equity vs this range is 41,87 percent on river.

I gived him all possible garbage becase he donk/call flop and you told that you want get value from hands like K9,K8,K7,Q8,Q9 whitch means that you want get value from total air in his range on flop because Q9 and K9 is air. If you give him just all pairs and gutshots on flop your equity vs this range is 41,87 percent on river.

Again, you can't just give him all gutshots (hands like JT and T6) on the river because he wouldn't check-call the turn, as his flopped gutshots have mostly completed straights and would put in more action.

I gave him a range that only included pairs on the flop - 74o-K7o, A2-A5o, 85o-K8o, 22-66, and this comes up to 50.1% equity for us - a razor thin valuebet (-EV if rake isn't maxed). But - and this is VERY important IMHO - we didn't weight any of those combinations less for the fact that he'd donk a straight on the river or checkraise the better combos of those. That's counterbalanced by the fact that there are some hands I missed in that range analysis - namely J9 and busted flush draws that made a straight on the river - but I intentionally chose to leave them out because I believe that the vast majority of the time they will donk the river (and that they should, as most people won't value bet thin enough on this river).

The fact that you're calling this a "super terrible value bet" when there's clearly a fair amount of debate to be had here says something, but the biggest thing for me is that you aren't doing a full range analysis but instead are picking and choosing the hands you're afraid of rather than telling the story street-by-street. In both case scenarios the worst case scenario (either "terrible bet" or "terrible missed bet" is around a 5% equity edge or deficit, so regardless, this doesn't fall under a crystal clear terrible or great situation either way.

Rob

Again, you can't just give him all gutshots (hands like JT and T6) on the river because he wouldn't check-call the turn, as his flopped gutshots have mostly completed straights and would put in more action.

I gave him a range that only included pairs on the flop - 74o-K7o, A2-A5o, 85o-K8o, 22-66, and this comes up to 50.1% equity for us - a razor thin valuebet (-EV if rake isn't maxed). But - and this is VERY important IMHO - we didn't weight any of those combinations less for the fact that he'd donk a straight on the river or checkraise the better combos of those. That's counterbalanced by the fact that there are some hands I missed in that range analysis - namely J9 and busted flush draws that made a straight on the river - but I intentionally chose to leave them out because I believe that the vast majority of the time they will donk the river (and that they should, as most people won't value bet thin enough on this river).

The fact that you're calling this a "super terrible value bet" when there's clearly a fair amount of debate to be had here says something, but the biggest thing for me is that you aren't doing a full range analysis but instead are picking and choosing the hands you're afraid of rather than telling the story street-by-street. In both case scenarios the worst case scenario (either "terrible bet" or "terrible missed bet" is around a 5% equity edge or deficit, so regardless, this doesn't fall under a crystal clear terrible or great situation either way.

Rob

It is terrible because you assume that he will always call but even huge fish will often fold one pair hand on river. You need him call more often with worse hand than he will call with better, He will for sure fold 22-55 , 7x and often 8x . Almost everyone will fold it. He do not have almost any 9x and Tx in his range which you beat.Do you call river checkraise??