Ghost the best of DeucesCracked in the shorthanded games they play in today.
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DeucesCracked coach mike l. makes his Ghost debut with a 3/6 limit hold'em session on the Cake network. Mike describes his playing style and how to deal with typical 3/6 opponents.
Posted 2 months ago
tags: mike l ghost cake poker 3/6 limit hold'em hand reading
Micro/Small Stakes,
53 min long
Comments for mike l. (#1) - 3/6 LHE
rusty trombone
Mike L? This is some ol' school shit right here!
Posted 2 months ago
gusorama
good video
would like to see you play some tougher games 3/6 to 5/10 
Posted 2 months ago
Entity
FounderHey Mike,
Welcome to the team. Jotted down a few notes after watching this, will leave more up for member comments but wanted to put my thoughts out there.
I don't like plan to call / fold UI on the heart board. Cardplayer77 has been the only other aggressive opponent at the table and I'd tend to showdown there expecting to see hands like QJhh often, even though you'll be in ugly shape occasionally against the Ace high flush draw since the pair turned. I used to be more foldy in these spots but vs frequent flop checkraisers and aggros in general I think you're way too good here and def. think Cardplayer77 was one of those guys. It's probably pretty close but as a backup I love to have the image of the guy who never folds if you c/r me so I can make better decisions later.
People peel Axx flops way light nowadays. 4-ways I'd be tempted to check-fold but 3-ways I think you'll see one player with a gutshot and the other with 65, etc., often enough to show a pretty clear profit by betting.
I'd lead out with the 23o straight because this guy has shown a tendency to very rarely put money in the pot unless he's calling, he just doesn't bet/raise/semibluff very light so you can't really count to c/r here very often vs. him. You comment on this later but I was writing this as I was watching.
On the right-hand side at the same time 15:53 I'd bet the AJo on the 4-flush board but you're right that it feels thin.
This seems razor thin and very close, I could easily see a player like this showing up with 77, 99 type hands. Obviously that isn't a huge part of his range but you're good against the other guy v. often and are getting 12:2 on a calldown. I do think you'll see a Ten as often as 70% of the time here but that still makes a calldown pretty profitable.
Overall just wanted to say welcome and thanks for the first video submission, it's nice to see how you play and think given how much we've talked poker over 2p2 and at LHE dinners in the past.
Rob
Posted 2 months ago
MickeyWins
Hi Mike,
Your site selection is excellent.
I would like to see you either play the games you ussually play at stars,
or 3/6 at stars.
Posted 2 months ago
sushiglutton
It was really fun that you were so confused of the way some hands played out. Welcome (back) to the sick world of micro grinding
!
I think you were very good at calmly describe your thought process and it was easy to follow. I do personally like one-tabling a bit more. It is easy to get confused and miss action, and not being able to analyze enough. But I don't think you were worse at this than any other coach and most of the time it worked fine. The flip side is that you can play more hands of course, but I don't think it is worth that. Just IMO.
There were penty of interseting spots I think, besides the ones Entity speaks of. The XR for a FC I haven't seen before, but that was pretty cool. I think that given how passve everyone played it was a really clever play.
A hand I wonder about is 4.30 in u get a free look in the BB with 98o vs UTG limper and SB. Flop is J75r, check you bet and only UTG calls. Turn is J putting two hearts on the board and you check.
My thinking in this spot is that villain can have peeled the flop with many trashy hands that will give up on the turn. On the other hand we often value-bet ourselves when he has A-high or small pairs that would have checked behind. I tend to bet here, but am of corse open to ur thoughts here.
Anyway good video and I will surely check out your future work.
Posted 2 months ago
mike l.
sushiglutton,
with the 98 hand i could definitely see betting there and have tons in the past. it's a more player dependent thing and right now my default is set to check that turn because in the games i normally play im getting called down (or put to the test with a raise) with K high and better always there and theyre raising the flop with more of their trashy gutter or worse/no pair hands on that flop (and consequently playing more defensive/trappy with weak and better made hands like pairs and A high). another reason is i rampantly checkraise turns in the games i play in now. bet flop, c/r turn has become my bread and butter. so that's why i defaulted to check (although i was just check-calling if he bet). i think youre right, that betting the turn would be better against these more naive, less tricky low limit players. hope that makes sense.
cheers, mike
Posted 2 months ago
mike l.
entity,
yeah im with you on the Q7o, i think on the video you can hear me second guessing it a little after i fold. the thing about that player is although i could tell he was aggressive and decent (the only obvious winning player i could see from my hour on there), we never did see him bluff or get out of line that i can recall, he just showed me solid strong hands every time. but i agree i was probably giving him a little too much credit a little early in that hand.
with 99, i couldnt find the hand, but the thing about these players in this game is they so frequently just play an A super passively. they call with some raggedy ace preflop and then they just call and call and call as little bets as possible on the way to showdown. against better players you have to say to yourself, hmm nobody raised pf or on the flop there's not much reason to think anyone has an A here, but from what i had seen at 3-6 it was more like 20-40 live where people just passively call with their ace pf and then do nothing to represent one on later streets. so i feel like checking is a little more prudent because it prevents their passive style from being accidentally profitable (a key concept in beating low limits imo), and if there is value in betting in this spot it's player dependent and thin.
with the 32 in the bb the pot is so small that id rather slow play it a little there and try to build a pot that's more sufficient given the strength of my hand. if i bet there and he releases, ive basically robbed myself a bit. nevertheless youre right that he will call with absolutely anything on that small card flop and he like all the other players had shown a tendency to check when checked to. im so used to people betting when checked to i think i missed about 10 checkraises in this video. with the AJ on the other table i think betting the river is fine, but because these players are so passive a small or even medium size spade (for the flush) is more likely than it would be against tougher players, it's a larger part of his c/c x2 range than it would be against a more normal opponent. so i dont mind my river check behind.
i like my fold with the JJ hand. if i had something like AA or KK id be more inclined to pay off because then im less likely to lose on the river should the bb accidentaly back into an overcard. that said, chechi's actions in the hand strongly resemble top pair that just got happy and made trips and to try and read too much more into that and give up 2 bbs would be fairly spewy at this limit on this site imo.
thanks for your comments rob.
cheers, mike
Posted 2 months ago
CrazyAl
Welcome Mike. I've played close to 70k hands on Cake between 2/4 and 5/10 and tend to agree with Entity on the 99 hand. At 3/6 you WILL see passively played AX but also picked up broadway str8 draws, gutters, FD's and other PP's as well as random crap calling you often enough to make a bet there. May as well put one in against the bad hands too that they can check behind.
Q7 I call down and JJ I call down but maybe thats a function of me running sick hot when I played these games. (Or being a station). I tend to agree that you will see 8X,66 or 99 often enough to justify it.
One method is these games against the passives is to think of a wide range, then double it, now your close. lol joke (maybe)
Posted 2 months ago
tapped_out
LOL LIMIT
Good video/presentation but I get tilted just watching it. Tried to give it a shot but I don't think limit will ever be for me.
Posted 2 months ago
mike l.
great point. i think ill have to be more of a betting station in the next video. thanks.
mike
Posted 2 months ago
xrosswind
Hi Mike, nice video. Any chance you could play this limit or 2/4 on Stars or Full Tilt. Or would you rather keep your screen name a secret on those bigger sites.
Posted 2 months ago
Hypnotic
Thats how i feel about NL. Can we see a flop plz? (a turn? fuggetaboutit) zzzzzzzzzzz
Posted 2 months ago
alexhandros
early on you have 97o and talk about check-raising a KT8 flop for "value". this doesnt make sense
Posted 2 months ago
mike l.
there's value in my draw in a multiway pot against their wide ranges. very important concept in lhe.
Posted 2 months ago