Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by BalugaWhale (High Stakes)

Time Link to 00:45:15

Good stuff, lot's of interesting stuff

What your plan for a non-diamond?

Time Link to 00:02:48

That`s funny, because this is actually not true and must be based on variance. Yongsuk Chang only C-Bets 48% of Flops. In fact he very often check/folds Flops like A73r as the Aggr. which makes him very easy to play.

Time Link to 00:50:00

Very interesting video. Adjusting to other regs and adjusting to their adjustments is appliable to all levels and something that takes alot of time to master. So im glad to see more 6max videos with this content.

The hand i got a question about is the 76s on the turn. What makes this such an easy fold on the turn? Clearly your range cant be percieved as very strong when we call preflop and then call this dry flop. Do we fear him valuebetting wide on the turn and/or possible 3 barrel us?

Time Link to 00:45:39

Hey BW, I'm skeptical of this river shove... Though you can rep a fair few boats and big flushes, it's not implausible that he has some combo's of these too, right? Also, I don't think there are a ton of combo's of worse hands that are in his river folding range.

You're shoving to get him off:
low diamond like 99-JJ, which he probably won't get the river with everytime, [say 3-4 combos in his river folding range]
Qx +diamond, which, given he opened UTG is mostly strong diamonds like AdQ KdQ or at least way more often than QJo or QTo [say 2-3 combos in his river folding range]
a low flush, of which there aren't many combos even if he would play them like that everytime [say 1-2 combo in his river folding range]

Thats 6-9 combos. I would expect his river calling range to be wider very often (AdQ(3) KdQ(3) usually, plus the odd overpair with a diamond, a few combos of boats and other nutflushes, and maybe the odd stubborn JdJx).

Do you think my assumptions are reasonable? Particularly how often he calls down with TP/overpair+ and how often he call call folds midpair+

Good stuff, lot's of interesting stuff

What your plan for a non-diamond?

Giving up unimproved in general.

Andrew

That`s funny, because this is actually not true and must be based on variance. Yongsuk Chang only C-Bets 48% of Flops. In fact he very often check/folds Flops like A73r as the Aggr. which makes him very easy to play.

no kidding, maybe he was just feeling aggro. In the rest of this video (which unfortunately is corrupted), i end up raising him like a bajillion times on the flop and he keeps on c-bet/folding.

Very interesting video. Adjusting to other regs and adjusting to their adjustments is appliable to all levels and something that takes alot of time to master. So im glad to see more 6max videos with this content.

The hand i got a question about is the 76s on the turn. What makes this such an easy fold on the turn? Clearly your range cant be percieved as very strong when we call preflop and then call this dry flop. Do we fear him valuebetting wide on the turn and/or possible 3 barrel us?

1) its easy for him to value bet light
2) if he's halfway decent, he's only bluffing with equity, which means that i still don't win THAT often.
3) most people don't 2barrel boards like that too often given it's dryness.

Hey BW, I'm skeptical of this river shove... Though you can rep a fair few boats and big flushes, it's not implausible that he has some combo's of these too, right? Also, I don't think there are a ton of combo's of worse hands that are in his river folding range.

You're shoving to get him off:
low diamond like 99-JJ, which he probably won't get the river with everytime, [say 3-4 combos in his river folding range]
Qx +diamond, which, given he opened UTG is mostly strong diamonds like AdQ KdQ or at least way more often than QJo or QTo [say 2-3 combos in his river folding range]
a low flush, of which there aren't many combos even if he would play them like that everytime [say 1-2 combo in his river folding range]

Thats 6-9 combos. I would expect his river calling range to be wider very often (AdQ(3) KdQ(3) usually, plus the odd overpair with a diamond, a few combos of boats and other nutflushes, and maybe the odd stubborn JdJx).

Do you think my assumptions are reasonable? Particularly how often he calls down with TP/overpair+ and how often he call call folds midpair+

i have to run to the beach so can't fully answer this at the moment, other than that its almost certainly a VERY thin shove and depends highly on what I expect him to do on the turn (i.e. not call with a hand like AdQx too often, but call with a hand like QxJd far more often, which I do believe I can get to fold).

Andrew

Time Link to 00:34:51

Hey Baluga,

here you open J3o on the button on the top right, but fold A9o in the CO on the top left. There's also a poor player behind you that can seemingly call with worse, why do you decide to fold here?

Hey Baluga,

here you open J3o on the button on the top right, but fold A9o in the CO on the top left. There's also a poor player behind you that can seemingly call with worse, why do you decide to fold here?

i actually thought about the A9 and thought it was very close, I suppose I folded because having the worse player come along adds incentive for the good players in the blinds to play their hands and be aggressive in trying to isolate the fish. I think my hand doesn't play phenomenally in those circumstances and decided to fold, but i think it is v v close.

Andrew

Time Link to 00:17:13

here you're 200bb deep with youngsuk and 3bet AA OTB to 120bb vs 30bb CO open.
how does your 3bet size vary as stacks size gets deeper? say you're 300 or 400bb deep; how big do you go and why?

here you're 200bb deep with youngsuk and 3bet AA OTB to 120bb vs 30bb CO open.
how does your 3bet size vary as stacks size gets deeper? say you're 300 or 400bb deep; how big do you go and why?

probably not much more than maybe 12bb. i'm planning on writing an article at some point about how, while depth affects factors like positional value and skill edge, it decreases in impact the deeper you get. for example, 300bb isn't very different than 400bb, and the difference between 400bb and 500bb is even less.

basically we just choose a balanced size that neither gives our opponent good odds nor creates undo dead money. that said, the more a player likes to flat, the bigger i'll make it, the more they like to 4bet, the smaller, etc.

Andrew

Hey Baluga, nice vid.

what did kovy end up having in that spot when yongsuk c/c the river?

also, i noticed you seem to 3bet larger when IP, and smaller when OOP, often 120 from 30 IP and 115 from 30 OOP, can you explain this? Seems like many players take the opposite approach.

Time Link to 00:40:26

I find it interesting that you are debating to ship KTs here so hard, while all we have actually seen from him so far is giveups against you.

Isn't it flawed to see him fold to your 3bets (assuming he does this with air) and then start thinking about shipping relativly light against his first 4bet?

We have no reason to assume he is 4bet bluffing here.

Can you please expand on why you thought about 5betting it in there given the current dynamic?

Hey Baluga, nice vid.

what did kovy end up having in that spot when yongsuk c/c the river?

also, i noticed you seem to 3bet larger when IP, and smaller when OOP, often 120 from 30 IP and 115 from 30 OOP, can you explain this? Seems like many players take the opposite approach.

kovy had a set of deuces

120 was deeper stacked (when calling is more likely), 115 is 100bb i believe

I find it interesting that you are debating to ship KTs here so hard, while all we have actually seen from him so far is giveups against you.

Isn't it flawed to see him fold to your 3bets (assuming he does this with air) and then start thinking about shipping relativly light against his first 4bet?

We have no reason to assume he is 4bet bluffing here.

Can you please expand on why you thought about 5betting it in there given the current dynamic?

this was largely predicated on having seen him 4-bet like 3 times right when i sat down (before the vid started).

that said, it wasn't *that* close and i talked about it mostly because its a spot where if my hand was slightly better i actually need to consider shoving in a spot where most players instamuck.

Andrew

Time Link to 00:39:51

You're talking about the hand in the top left corner as if you were the preflop raiser. But you actually called preflop, and he didnt c-bet this board.. Would this make you more likely to keep barreling here?

You're talking about the hand in the top left corner as if you were the preflop raiser. But you actually called preflop, and he didnt c-bet this board.. Would this make you more likely to keep barreling here?

ah you're right. in truth it doesn't change the action a ton, just that he's *slightly* more likely to call down after c/c as PFR than as preflop caller.

the reason why we can't just keep betting at this is because he's checking in order to play against a much wider range than he would if he bet. This plan works if we bet all our air and stuff and keep firing. The plan doesn't work is we restrict our turn bets to normal stuff-- value bets and hands with strong equity. Also, the more air we rep the worse if we're bluffing, the more value hands we can have the better. on that turn, we don't really pick up many extra value hands.

Andrew

very n1 one sir! a lot of interesting stuff that you talk about and you seem to play very focussed (other than in other vids from the past)

I got a question regarding the betsize on the turn in the [Time Link to 00:45:39] A3 hand vs ameXcenturion:

do you use this betsize all the time for all 4 dif. type of hands (flush, set, TP, air) that you name after you c/r the flop and the Turn completes flushdraw? against an unknown, seemingly straight forward regular, how would you proceed on the river with the dif. holdings?
And if the Turn bricks , which betsize would you use with the diferent holdings if you decide to bet? would you bet everything exept the airballs?

And another theme-related question: I' ve got the impression that nowadays most ppl don't c/r their flushdraws all that often or if they do they don't bet the Turn with a high freq. because it became kind of a popular line for the PFR to call the Flopraise, then shove over the turnbet with TP and better. What do you think about that/ can you confirm this? How do you propose to handle the spot in the preflop-caller's shoes?

thx in advance and hoping for more great vids in the near future

very n1 one sir! a lot of interesting stuff that you talk about and you seem to play very focussed (other than in other vids from the past)

I got a question regarding the betsize on the turn in the [Time Link to 00:45:39] A3 hand vs ameXcenturion:

do you use this betsize all the time for all 4 dif. type of hands (flush, set, TP, air) that you name after you c/r the flop and the Turn completes flushdraw? against an unknown, seemingly straight forward regular, how would you proceed on the river with the dif. holdings?
And if the Turn bricks , which betsize would you use with the diferent holdings if you decide to bet? would you bet everything exept the airballs?

And another theme-related question: I' ve got the impression that nowadays most ppl don't c/r their flushdraws all that often or if they do they don't bet the Turn with a high freq. because it became kind of a popular line for the PFR to call the Flopraise, then shove over the turnbet with TP and better. What do you think about that/ can you confirm this? How do you propose to handle the spot in the preflop-caller's shoes?

thx in advance and hoping for more great vids in the near future

in the actual hand i might c/f a medium sized flush but i might still turn asmall flush into a bluff. id use the same betsize on the turn most of the time

what to do after c/r the flop w/ a FD is an interesting question these days. depending on image, depth, and a variety of other factors, c/c and bet/something are usually your best options. the leveling factors might be a little too complex to explain in this post at the moment

Andrew

Time Link to 00:10:39

Really? u are balancing a betsize @ 1knl. Seems ott.

Time Link to 00:30:22

Jesus christ, do we not have some serious betsizing considerations here? A jam is a pretty insane overbet imo.

Time Link to 00:31:05

scratch that my bad, diddnt see he was short

bash up baluga day backfiring imo

Time Link to 00:20:03

954ss flop and you c/f after 3betting PF from the blinds against moi-rhums:

Do you actually balance your flop checking range in spots like this in some way? I agree that it's fine to c/f this flop but overall you obviously can not just give up every time you check this flop OOP after 3betting PF.

So basically what I'm wondering is:

- what kind of hands are you c/c'ing on this flop with?
- what kind of hands are you c/raising for value with (if any because you'll usually CB with your sets, OPs and stuff like 54 I assume)?
- do you ever c/r this flop as a bluff?

obviously can not just give up every time you check this flop OOP after 3betting PF.

just to play devils advocate, why is that obvious?

Andrew

It is "obvious" because if you ALWAYS give up when you not CB in these spots you are basically giving up the initial advantage you gain by 3betting because villain can call the 3bet incredibly wide knowing that your future flop action will give away your hand in a way that allows him to play his hand close to perfectly on the flop and on later streets.

Does that make sense?

Hi Balugawhale, i didn't watch the video yet but im a big fan of all your videos and stuff so im sure it's great.

I have some questions not about this video though, but your general teachings of 3bet pot play, i would really appreciate it if u had a little look.

1) You seem to advocate cbetting very often, but you also say there isn't much fold equity in 3bet pots, this has me puzzled a little bit.

2) Secondly you will 3bet a lot in possition which i think is fine, but iv heard people say that when a reg calls your 3bet OOP, they often have TT+ so it isn't good to cbet unless it's an A or Khi flop. I play 100NL, and almost everyone there(including the regs) call 3bets OOP, and i get really confused about which boards im suppose to cbet or not, and end up just checking back and giving up a lot to their turn stabs. Is this just about classing your opponents bad aggressive bad passive and good aggressive, then cbetting 100% vs the bad players until youv been check-raised or floated OOP 3-4 times, and vs the regs just giving up until youv been shown a hand like KQo or if theyv called you OOP 2-3 times in short period?

3) Another thing, and the thing that has me most confused is that iv heard some people say betting once and giving up in a 3bet pot is like burning money, where as you are advocating cbetting seemingly 80%+ or so, or that is the impression i get from you anyway. Barreling off can't be good either since we don't have much fold equity in 3bet pots... Aren't you just creating a lot of dead money for your opponent to steal? i can imagine cbetting a lot in OOP 3bet pots being a losing play, but i haven't really tryed it since I tend to just give up OOP when i miss with my non paired hands(ill cbet overs+backdoor flush draw or better, but thats it). Seems like im handing them money in a different way though.

Thnx very much for reading atleast.

It is "obvious" because if you ALWAYS give up when you not CB in these spots you are basically giving up the initial advantage you gain by 3betting because villain can call the 3bet incredibly wide knowing that your future flop action will give away your hand in a way that allows him to play his hand close to perfectly on the flop and on later streets.

Does that make sense?

not totally

i'd love to hear what your definition of "initial advantage" is.

Seems like if he's going to flat our 3-bets incredibly wide, we could start c-betting more? valuebetting more thinly?

Andrew

Hi Balugawhale, i didn't watch the video yet but im a big fan of all your videos and stuff so im sure it's great.

I have some questions not about this video though, but your general teachings of 3bet pot play, i would really appreciate it if u had a little look.

1) You seem to advocate cbetting very often, but you also say there isn't much fold equity in 3bet pots, this has me puzzled a little bit.

2) Secondly you will 3bet a lot in possition which i think is fine, but iv heard people say that when a reg calls your 3bet OOP, they often have TT+ so it isn't good to cbet unless it's an A or Khi flop. I play 100NL, and almost everyone there(including the regs) call 3bets OOP, and i get really confused about which boards im suppose to cbet or not, and end up just checking back and giving up a lot to their turn stabs. Is this just about classing your opponents bad aggressive bad passive and good aggressive, then cbetting 100% vs the bad players until youv been check-raised or floated OOP 3-4 times, and vs the regs just giving up until youv been shown a hand like KQo or if theyv called you OOP 2-3 times in short period?

3) Another thing, and the thing that has me most confused is that iv heard some people say betting once and giving up in a 3bet pot is like burning money, where as you are advocating cbetting seemingly 80%+ or so, or that is the impression i get from you anyway. Barreling off can't be good either since we don't have much fold equity in 3bet pots... Aren't you just creating a lot of dead money for your opponent to steal? i can imagine cbetting a lot in OOP 3bet pots being a losing play, but i haven't really tryed it since I tend to just give up OOP when i miss with my non paired hands(ill cbet overs+backdoor flush draw or better, but thats it). Seems like im handing them money in a different way though.

Thnx very much for reading atleast.

fold equity refers to getting your opponent to fold an actual hand, not to folding his air. So, while we have less fold equity, there is also more dead money to collect.

If someone's calling your 3-bets OOP, depolarize, c-bet then and v-bet them mercilessly, if they play back too much then stop c-betting as much, pretty simple.

c-betting and giving up when called in a 3-bet pot is NOT burning money, like all things, it simply depends.

Andrew

not totally

i'd love to hear what your definition of "initial advantage" is.

Well I'll try my best to explain what I mean:

When I say "initial advantage" I'm thinking of two aspects:
1. Very often we do not 3b for value. So when we do not 3bet for value we are instead 3betting as a bluff/semi-bluff and basically try to take down the dead money with the biggest part of that being the initial raise.

Once we establish an image of giving up on a lot of boards when checking as the PFR, villain will (should?) be able to profit from the fact that our flop actions (on certain boards) give away our actual hand strength.
That again should lead to villain calling more 3bets (esp IP) against us because it is now more profitable for him with the given information which inevitably leads to our 3bets being less profitable on its own (than with a more balanced CBing/ flop continuation approach).

2. "Initial advantage" also relates to flop CBing for me.
If we CB the flop as the PF raiser we still have the possibility to get villain to fold a better hand (for example if we CB the 954ss flop we might get AhQh or 33) to fold. (We also risk getting bluffed by worse hands when we always check with the intention of giving up but I'm not sure whether that is a factor here...).
If we have an unbalanced continuation range in this situation we are basically giving up this advantage for the time being.

Seems like if he's going to flat our 3-bets incredibly wide, we could start c-betting more? valuebetting more thinly?

Andrew

But these are "only" adjustments to a situation that we created by not having a balanced flop continuation range to begin with, no? So wouldn't it be better to not let this situation arise in the first place instead of adjusting once it has occcured?

Thanks for taking the time for this little discussion Andrew! Please don't hesitate to let me know when my thought process is messed up somewhere along the way, I really appreciate the effort you put into making your vids and into the discussion afterwards!

And also sorry for my post getting so long...

fold equity refers to getting your opponent to fold an actual hand, not to folding his air. So, while we have less fold equity, there is also more dead money to collect.

If someone's calling your 3-bets OOP, depolarize, c-bet then and v-bet them mercilessly, if they play back too much then stop c-betting as much, pretty simple.

c-betting and giving up when called in a 3-bet pot is NOT burning money, like all things, it simply depends.

Andrew

Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Thnx very much for explaining.

Well I'll try my best to explain what I mean:

When I say "initial advantage" I'm thinking of two aspects:
1. Very often we do not 3b for value. So when we do not 3bet for value we are instead 3betting as a bluff/semi-bluff and basically try to take down the dead money with the biggest part of that being the initial raise.

Once we establish an image of giving up on a lot of boards when checking as the PFR, villain will (should?) be able to profit from the fact that our flop actions (on certain boards) give away our actual hand strength.
That again should lead to villain calling more 3bets (esp IP) against us because it is now more profitable for him with the given information which inevitably leads to our 3bets being less profitable on its own (than with a more balanced CBing/ flop continuation approach).

2. "Initial advantage" also relates to flop CBing for me.
If we CB the flop as the PF raiser we still have the possibility to get villain to fold a better hand (for example if we CB the 954ss flop we might get AhQh or 33) to fold. (We also risk getting bluffed by worse hands when we always check with the intention of giving up but I'm not sure whether that is a factor here...).
If we have an unbalanced continuation range in this situation we are basically giving up this advantage for the time being.



But these are "only" adjustments to a situation that we created by not having a balanced flop continuation range to begin with, no? So wouldn't it be better to not let this situation arise in the first place instead of adjusting once it has occcured?

Thanks for taking the time for this little discussion Andrew! Please don't hesitate to let me know when my thought process is messed up somewhere along the way, I really appreciate the effort you put into making your vids and into the discussion afterwards!

And also sorry for my post getting so long...

1) your goal of balancing is only appropriate when your opponents are balanced. If your opponents are unbalanced in one direction (which they invariably will be), your response is to unbalance yourself in the other direction.

2) it is possible to do what youre suggesting, to balance many different ranges, but its very difficult, and against all but the most elite players it's unnecessary.

Andrew

Hey Andrew,

thanks a lot for your reply!

Time Link to 00:53:57

Why do you think Xcalling is not a option here>? You say that the guy is likely to be a fish more reason to believe he will bluff Spades here right?. Another ? would be is why do you assume he has run down apair?
I would think there are still alot of spade hands that completely bricks the river. I.E J9s,10Js 78s etc.etc.
Its a hard spot for sure but Im not totally convinced that a Chk call line is out of the ? here. BTW I loved this video I joined about a month ago and started watching all of your older videos for some strange reason. Last 2 days have been watching your new ones, very big difference on your skill level. I love the improvements whale! Keep them coming.

Time Link to 00:55:19

Ughh I should have listened to another 20 seconds before I posted, That does make alot of sense that he probably doesnt wanna risk a big bluff there. Not sure why I didn't think of that lol. But I still think Xcallin is probable, possibly not though... I might just be spewing in those spots. Still if you have anymore reasons though on why he wouldnt bluff missed spades on the river I would love to hear it. I think with the board putting a possible str8 out the fish is more likely to bluff, just from past experiences I guess.