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

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sick amount of HU lately and very good vid

sick good keep it up

I gave it 5 stars before even watching it. If somehow it doesn't live up to my expectations I will come back here and berate you.

The focus of the analysis is usually about leaks/problems w/ the villain's play. And this villain has some pretty big leaks, but he still is up on you @ the beginning of this session.

I know it takes time to get the "reads" to exploit in the villian.

My question is: (1) what do you look for to cut that time down to a minimum (i.e., smaller # of hands)? and (2) how was villain's playing style effective against you @ the beginning of the match? [In other words, what were your leaks that villain was exploiting early?]

BTW, great analysis & I really enjoy it. I was just wondering if you could critique your play in the thread as well......

The focus of the analysis is usually about leaks/problems w/ the villain's play. And this villain has some pretty big leaks, but he still is up on you @ the beginning of this session.

I know it takes time to get the "reads" to exploit in the villian.

My question is: (1) what do you look for to cut that time down to a minimum (i.e., smaller # of hands)? and (2) how was villain's playing style effective against you @ the beginning of the match? [In other words, what were your leaks that villain was exploiting early?]

BTW, great analysis & I really enjoy it. I was just wondering if you could critique your play in the thread as well......

I get asked this question by students all the time. They say "We'll I know this guy sucks, why is he up 2 BI in 50 hands?" The answer, of course, is variance. My opponent, although he has leaks, is still a decent enough player that in a 500 hand match could easily go 5 BI in his favor. Even if I'm a 10BB/100 winner over him which is a pretty reasonable estimate, there is more than enough variance that I am in no way guaranteed to finish ahead at all. For example, early on in the match I got stacked by donking out and 3 betting the flop w/ top pair in a marginal, but yet profitable spot to get the money in against my opponents range in that spot. Although my line in that hand was high variance, I have no reason to pass up the the EV.

Look at it this way: If we were to get it AIPF w/ my AA vs his 56ss and lose, everyone would think ah ya that's just unlucky. But "unlucky" happens in so many other ways when you are playing HU against a weaker opponent. A good example is when you a playing an unknown and he starts 3 betting a bunch, donking for full pot, and basically firing the pot at every opportunity. Against this player, it is somewhat suicidal to play back at him w/ air (initially anyway) as my experiences have told me it is more more profitable to wait til you have some showdown value against guys like this. Well its pretty typical to be down 25-50BB fairly quickly in these spots. Is he exploiting our leaks? I mean technically yes, but our overall strategy is going to crush him very often if he sticks around.

My point is that I am very happy w/ the way I played this match start to finish and the fact that in the end I only won about 1 BI doesn't indicate that my opponent in this match exploited me early on. I also want to add that although variance is obviously a very real part of the game, people certainly overuse it too often. If you breakeven over 100k hands at a level, of course its possible it was all variance, but its much, much more likely you are not currently good enough to beat that level. When playing HU, its very important to be honest w/ yourself about your ability. If you are convinced you are more talented that you really are, your game selction will really suffer.

I get asked this question by students all the time. They say "We'll I know this guy sucks, why is he up 2 BI in 50 hands?" The answer, of course, is variance. My opponent, although he has leaks, is still a decent enough player that in a 500 hand match could easily go 5 BI in his favor. Even if I'm a 10BB/100 winner over him which is a pretty reasonable estimate, there is more than enough variance that I am in no way guaranteed to finish ahead at all. For example, early on in the match I got stacked by donking out and 3 betting the flop w/ top pair in a marginal, but yet profitable spot to get the money in against my opponents range in that spot. Although my line in that hand was high variance, I have no reason to pass up the the EV.

Look at it this way: If we were to get it AIPF w/ my AA vs his 56ss and lose, everyone would think ah ya that's just unlucky. But "unlucky" happens in so many other ways when you are playing HU against a weaker opponent. A good example is when you a playing an unknown and he starts 3 betting a bunch, donking for full pot, and basically firing the pot at every opportunity. Against this player, it is somewhat suicidal to play back at him w/ air (initially anyway) as my experiences have told me it is more more profitable to wait til you have some showdown value against guys like this. Well its pretty typical to be down 25-50BB fairly quickly in these spots. Is he exploiting our leaks? I mean technically yes, but our overall strategy is going to crush him very often if he sticks around.

Gman, my questions may have been poorly worded. And I like the part that I quote above, which is standard. One marginal 4bet [along w/ a train wreck of a flop] & several laydowns to psb donk bets will put you down 25-50bbs in a very short period of time. My primary question is about timing adjustments in a HU match (i.e., how do you minimize the amount of time before you go after a leak in a villain as aggressively like you did w/ your c/r of cbets w/ this villain).

[BTW, I hope this isn't uber-standard to you, but I'm a relative newbie to HU.] s/s

At 8:15 the "value bet" with T9 is truly horrendous. Really really bad. Mostly you play well but look back and you'll see how this is a huge mistake. Hits his range, etc. and if he has 77 or 66 or something he's definitely folding. You might fold out a T for the chop but you're never getting worse to call

At 8:15 the "value bet" with T9 is truly horrendous. Really really bad. Mostly you play well but look back and you'll see how this is a huge mistake. Hits his range, etc. and if he has 77 or 66 or something he's definitely folding. You might fold out a T for the chop but you're never getting worse to call

Although there are much nicer ways of saying what you did, looking back I do agree that the river is a check, but its not nearly as "horrendous" to bet as you think. At this point, he was calling us down pretty light, so he easily could have called us w/ 4x, 77, Ax, etc. But I think AQ/AJ/AT/QJ are a big enough portion of his range there not to bet the river. If the river was a 2, I would absolutely argue betting there is best.

I appreciate that you think I "mostly play well" though. I'll try to get better at poker for future videos so I can meet your expectations!

Gman, my questions may have been poorly worded. And I like the part that I quote above, which is standard. One marginal 4bet [along w/ a train wreck of a flop] & several laydowns to psb donk bets will put you down 25-50bbs in a very short period of time. My primary question is about timing adjustments in a HU match (i.e., how do you minimize the amount of time before you go after a leak in a villain as aggressively like you did w/ your c/r of cbets w/ this villain).

[BTW, I hope this isn't uber-standard to you, but I'm a relative newbie to HU.] s/s

To be honest, there isn't really an easy way to answer that question. I guess all I can say is as soon as you see a small hole in your opponents game, you should immediately start poking at it to see if you can bring the whole wall down. If it doesn't work, so be it, just keep focusing in on the little things and you are likely to find some other holes.

When playing most regulars, a lot of times their holes won't be as obvious as only opening 40% from the button or only folding to 25% of 3 bets. Usually its more subtle things that take a little while to figure out and then exploit. This is why the first 50 hands in particular against a decent player are filled w/ variance, and why you as a superior player should often look to play as long as possible once you feel like you have an edge on someone.

I try to be honest with my posts, I'm the same way on 2+2. If I really like a play I'll praise it and if a play seems really bad to me I'll say so. I find people tend to be too friendly on this site, which hinders constructive criticism. As for the hand itself, I think on that particular river he folds ace high, 77, etc. If you look at the board texture and your bet sizing I think you'll agree. Of course it's a bet if the river is a 2, thats a totally different situation. A jack or a queen are the two worst cards here. I wasn't trying to be condescending or sarcastic when I said mostly you play well. This is not a backhanded compliment, but it probably comes off as one because of the overly gushing compliments most viewers dole out with consistency to the video producers.

I try to be honest with my posts, I'm the same way on 2+2. If I really like a play I'll praise it and if a play seems really bad to me I'll say so. I find people tend to be too friendly on this site, which hinders constructive criticism. As for the hand itself, I think on that particular river he folds ace high, 77, etc. If you look at the board texture and your bet sizing I think you'll agree. Of course it's a bet if the river is a 2, thats a totally different situation. A jack or a queen are the two worst cards here. I wasn't trying to be condescending or sarcastic when I said mostly you play well. This is not a backhanded compliment, but it probably comes off as one because of the overly gushing compliments most viewers dole out with consistency to the video producers.

Np. We're cool man. I just didn't think "truly horrendous" and "really, really bad" fell into the category of constructive criticism.

To be honest, there isn't really an easy way to answer that question.

Gman! U are a great teacher and I hope, U will make a series about developing reads and finding leaks in the first, say 100-150 Hands in a HU match.

I have to disagree with the 910 in the beginning when you 3bet. The riv is definitely not a bet, its a c/c

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