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

Sunday school commences - praise be to the lord !

A+++ content, superb. Really pleased to have you on board GMAN!

I like your videos, kind of a lot.

I like your videos, kind of a lot.

Right?

Great video!

I'm a big fan of pause&go type of vids and Gman really knows how to analyse hands, so even I can understand

5/5

Hey guys, thanks a lot for the positive feedback so far. As usual, please don't be shy to leave any comments or suggestions for this video or any future videos. And look out for part 2 of this session, which I believe will premier next Sunday.

why did u think he would be floating u very light on the 862ss board facing ur first 3bet? I agree he'd call with gutters, but he'd be raise/calling most oesds or fds (and might check them behind on turn) and i dont c how its a good board to float with two overs or some crap since there r so many turns u might be double barreling and so many draws u might get aggro with, plus ur prob not auto c-betting that board with ur air. I feel like checking the turn is bad, ur almost never beat, tons of draws u can rep plus the card rarely improves him and it is a scare card to a lot of his range so he can perceive u as bluffing it a lot, and i doubt hes floating in this spot too much (u disagree) but u even said that he is liable to check behind his floats on that card since it doesnt make much sense for a lot of his hands to be v-betting.

also, the Q9 seems very thin but i dont rly know donk dynamics, but seems like a terrible board for him to raise with air given how often ur 3betting the flop and that ppl dont generally lead those wet boards planning on folding, i also doubt he'd raise/call with J9 or something too often so it seems like ur up against a big draw or a better made hand and feels kinda gross sticking it in but i dunno.

At 34 mins Villain makes the epic call on river with A high. I don't play stakes as high as you play, but against the opponents I play, I think I would be making this call a good proportion of the time as well. My reasoning goes a little like the following:

I know that you’re an aggressive player opening a wide range of hands on the button. So when you bet this flop, I know that you don’t have a hand like 2x,3x,44,55 unless you think I am floating OoP with naked over cards (<A high) a decent proportion of the time. Not to mention that most opponents would be c/r any flush draw on this board, you’d hate to c/r’d off a better hand here. So your bet on the flop smells to me like 6x,77+, Flush draws/air. Against that range, AT with the ace of diamonds fairs pretty well.

On the turn it is a off suit J and you barrel again. Already this tells me you probably don’t have 6x,77-99. So your either betting the J for value, in which case you are representing Jx,QQ+, sets, 45 or AIR. Furthermore, 2 pair combo’s are very limited given that Jx where x is small is a small portion of your range. Most importantly, I know all decent regulars would double barrel on turns exactly like the one that just came out with their Air hands. So this warrants a call from me.

On the river it brings a 7 of diamonds completing the flush. You opt to go for an over bet on the river and immediately this smells fishy. Reason being is you know that I am a decent regular and would not call any Jx here or 77-TT even. I also know that you would not bet for value too thin on this river. For example a lot of your pairs less then J would be checking this river if not the turn, as you cannot see what worse will call. Now your top of the line hands, would you really go for an overbet this early on in the match? I have not shown a tendency to be calling massive bets OoP yet and you have not shown a tendency to be value betting super thin yet. So it really seems like you are either levelling with the nuts here or nothing. Since I have the A of diamonds, I call.

nice vid Gman. i noticed this vid is on Stars, so i figure you're as good a person as any to answer this question. i heard FTP is considerably better for playing HU than stars because of RB being so much better for people that play "few" tables (ie. HU players). what are your comments on this? is FTP RB so much better that it's almost necessary to transfer money to FTP for an aspiring HU player who plays on Stars? sorry for the sort of off topic but also loosely related question.

why did u think he would be floating u very light on the 862ss board facing ur first 3bet? I agree he'd call with gutters, but he'd be raise/calling most oesds or fds (and might check them behind on turn) and i dont c how its a good board to float with two overs or some crap since there r so many turns u might be double barreling and so many draws u might get aggro with, plus ur prob not auto c-betting that board with ur air. I feel like checking the turn is bad, ur almost never beat, tons of draws u can rep plus the card rarely improves him and it is a scare card to a lot of his range so he can perceive u as bluffing it a lot, and i doubt hes floating in this spot too much (u disagree) but u even said that he is liable to check behind his floats on that card since it doesnt make much sense for a lot of his hands to be v-betting.

also, the Q9 seems very thin but i dont rly know donk dynamics, but seems like a terrible board for him to raise with air given how often ur 3betting the flop and that ppl dont generally lead those wet boards planning on folding, i also doubt he'd raise/call with J9 or something too often so it seems like ur up against a big draw or a better made hand and feels kinda gross sticking it in but i dunno.

Although I agree that this is a bad board to float w/ two overs, I knew enough about my opponents game to know that he wouldn't be able to help himself. So much of his range here is hands like KQ/KJ/KT/QJ/QT/T9 and I expected him to call with them A LOT on the flop. I also think hands like 99 or 8x would be raising this flop planning on getting it in a very large percentage of the time, as he knows that a flop raise here would look very suspicious.

When I check the turn, of course I'm not worried about not having the best hand, if he has us beat, so be it. I disagree to some extent that it is a scare card for him. If he was floating the flop, I don't think a J turn really discourages him from trying to take the pot from us on the turn too much. Yes he might check the turn back w/ air, but by the time we got to the river if that was still my opinion, I would have obviously just c/c any river. As it was, I felt like he flopped or backed into a pair by the river and was liable to pay us off w/ worse.

As for the Q9 hand, i guess we'll just have to agree to disagree again. I think by leading that flop he is smart enough to realize that I am doing so because I am trying to rep a good hand, but rarely actually have one. Furthermore, the board texture is one where I expected him to be raising draws/overs/weaker 9s a fairly good amount of the time as I felt he was unlikely to give my flop lead much credit at all.

Overall I would defend my line there as marginal but certainly +EV given the gameflow in the match. As I mentioned in the video, this is usually not how u should be playing Q9 by default against an unknown.

At 34 mins Villain makes the epic call on river with A high. I don't play stakes as high as you play, but against the opponents I play, I think I would be making this call a good proportion of the time as well. My reasoning goes a little like the following:

I know that you’re an aggressive player opening a wide range of hands on the button. So when you bet this flop, I know that you don’t have a hand like 2x,3x,44,55 unless you think I am floating OoP with naked over cards (<A high) a decent proportion of the time. Not to mention that most opponents would be c/r any flush draw on this board, you’d hate to c/r’d off a better hand here. So your bet on the flop smells to me like 6x,77+, Flush draws/air. Against that range, AT with the ace of diamonds fairs pretty well.

On the turn it is a off suit J and you barrel again. Already this tells me you probably don’t have 6x,77-99. So your either betting the J for value, in which case you are representing Jx,QQ+, sets, 45 or AIR. Furthermore, 2 pair combo’s are very limited given that Jx where x is small is a small portion of your range. Most importantly, I know all decent regulars would double barrel on turns exactly like the one that just came out with their Air hands. So this warrants a call from me.

On the river it brings a 7 of diamonds completing the flush. You opt to go for an over bet on the river and immediately this smells fishy. Reason being is you know that I am a decent regular and would not call any Jx here or 77-TT even. I also know that you would not bet for value too thin on this river. For example a lot of your pairs less then J would be checking this river if not the turn, as you cannot see what worse will call. Now your top of the line hands, would you really go for an overbet this early on in the match? I have not shown a tendency to be calling massive bets OoP yet and you have not shown a tendency to be value betting super thin yet. So it really seems like you are either levelling with the nuts here or nothing. Since I have the A of diamonds, I call.

Basically the problem with that hand was I made the mistake of assuming my opponent was thinking on a different level than he was. In reality, he thought process was likely very similar to yours.

As I mentioned in the video, I figured he knew I was capable of overbetting this river w/ a huge range of value hands, potentially as weak as 88, as I know 88 is the best hand a huge % of the time in this spot, and in fact I would potentially play 88, JQ, KK, and a flush exactly like this if I assumed he was on the level you described above.

As it turns out, I initially made a poor assumption on what he was thinking, and it obviously ended up costing me a fairly large pot. Look at it this way to simplify what I'm trying to say: player A only thinks about the strength of his hand. Because his hand is clearly weak here, he decides to fold to the overbet. Player B knows his opponent knows his hand is weak and thus his opponent thinks overbetting will get player B to fold, thus player B doesn't fall for the overbet and calls (this is clearly my opponent's thought process). Player C knows his opponent knows his hand is weak and his opponent also knows that overbetting here would look really bluffy, thus player C is smart enough not to call against what is very likely a wide v-betting range just trying to extract some extra money on the river with what is so often the best hand, thus player C folds. Unfortunately I got my Bs and Cs all mixed up

nice vid Gman. i noticed this vid is on Stars, so i figure you're as good a person as any to answer this question. i heard FTP is considerably better for playing HU than stars because of RB being so much better for people that play "few" tables (ie. HU players). what are your comments on this? is FTP RB so much better that it's almost necessary to transfer money to FTP for an aspiring HU player who plays on Stars? sorry for the sort of off topic but also loosely related question.

I agree w/ what you wrote above. For HU players, Stars FPPs don't come close to the value you get from FTP rakeback. There's also just a bigger player pool of HU players on FTP as they brought HU tables to the market much earlier than Stars. I personally play both sites in an attempt to just get as much action as possible, although I do prefer FTP.

Amazing video, could u make one for FTP? Star software tilts me

A minor thought I had about that QcT hand at +/- 1:09:

If he is unaware of your floating percentage oop, then can you expect him to call a c/r on the river? You need to be turning a made hand into a bluff in his eyes, which is obviously crazy there. I thought it would therefore be more likely for him to bluffraise a bet while getting him to call with small clubs that he might check back, although I realise he had not been bluffing at all.

A minor thought I had about that QcT hand at +/- 1:09:

If he is unaware of your floating percentage oop, then can you expect him to call a c/r on the river? You need to be turning a made hand into a bluff in his eyes, which is obviously crazy there. I thought it would therefore be more likely for him to bluffraise a bet while getting him to call with small clubs that he might check back, although I realise he had not been bluffing at all.

Ya as you mentioned, I really didn't think he would ever bluffraise the river here. Furthermore, I think he thinks I would turn a made hand into a bluff there on that river like AXdd or something a pretty good amount actually, even though very few players would actually consider that. And as I mentioned, I know he is capable of betting a pretty small flush on that river, and it is very hard for me to have a big club considering my flop/turn actions. And I finally, I just didn't think he really trusted me much at this point in the match, so obviously when he bet/calls w/ the 7c I win a bunch of money in a scenario where if I just lead out the river, he might even fold.

Really appreciate the detailed analysis. Thank-you.

great video & analysis. I just have a general question.

You said that you rarely call oop w/ As w/ small sidecars, but you obviously play a pretty large % (relative to me...) oop as part of your analysis of your range vs villain. So my questions are:

1. What stats do you look @ to add small unsuited As to your calling range oop?

2. How much of a difference is there btwn calling oop w/ suited vs unsuited As? (from an equity and/or game flow point of view).

3. What stats do you look @ to know that someone is playing "fit or fold" by not 2 barreling the turn? (sorry...can't remember where you mentioned this one.)

great video & analysis. I just have a general question.

You said that you rarely call oop w/ As w/ small sidecars, but you obviously play a pretty large % (relative to me...) oop as part of your analysis of your range vs villain. So my questions are:

1. What stats do you look @ to add small unsuited As to your calling range oop?

2. How much of a difference is there btwn calling oop w/ suited vs unsuited As? (from an equity and/or game flow point of view).

3. What stats do you look @ to know that someone is playing "fit or fold" by not 2 barreling the turn? (sorry...can't remember where you mentioned this one.)

1. Well I personally am rarely calling a2-a7o against anyone to a 3X raise PF, but the more someone is opening from the button, the easier an argument can be made for playing them OOP. Essentially this is true because your equity with a hand like A4o is potentially large enough to negate playing OOP w/ a hand w/ little postflop playability if he is opening 100% of buttons. But as I mentioned, against someone opening 90-100%, I would usually make other adjustments like 3 betting more and playing hands like J8o.

2. I mean I don't really know how to answer that mathematically. I guess all I can say is that AXss is typically a hand strong enough to play against a 3X open OOP where AXo usually is not.

3. For one there is a stat in HEM that gives the % of time they continuation bet the turn after continuation betting the flop, so that is for sure helpful. In general, looking at your opponents fold to c-bet % is often the best indicator of whether he is playing fit or fold. Anything above 60% is very, very high over a good sample.

Great vid.

Some questions:

1. @23:40 you c/c with JTo on AT7r, turn and river check through.

a) Do you checkcall the turn? (you've already mentioned how little villain is 2 barrel bluffing )

b) would you not consider leading the river for value (after the turn checks through)? (especially since it was only a few minutes ago that you did an oop float on a similar board with air)

2. @51 you betcall A8o on 4324A (oop)

When discussing the possiblity of being beat you only talk about whether or not villain can have a 5. Do you not thinking villain can be raising here with a better ace?

Great vid.

Some questions:

1. @23:40 you c/c with JTo on AT7r, turn and river check through.

a) Do you checkcall the turn? (you've already mentioned how little villain is 2 barrel bluffing )

b) would you not consider leading the river for value (after the turn checks through)? (especially since it was only a few minutes ago that you did an oop float on a similar board with air)

2. @51 you betcall A8o on 4324A (oop)

When discussing the possiblity of being beat you only talk about whether or not villain can have a 5. Do you not thinking villain can be raising here with a better ace?

1a. No. This is a terrible board to fire twice and I don't expect villain bluff here enough to profitably call the turn.

1b. Firing the river is an option. Tbh, I will very rarely be called by worse, so much of the value of the bet would be for balance purposes. A samll bet there might be in order.

2. Because FH and 5s are both in my range, no I almost never expected him to raise AK here, although against the right opponent raising might have some merit.