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

Around 7:45 with the 99 hand. Tight player reraises you from BB and you hit a set. An ace hits on the turn after a capped flop. You said if he 3 bet you on the ace turn that you would only call? Why not cap? You think he has pocket aces a lot of the time here? And again when the queen hits the river you said you should fold to a raise (it completes a straight for J 10, or gives a set to QQ). Do you think the tight player would reraise from BB with J10 and cap the flop or did you mean that he could have QQ here? Do you ever really fold a set of 9's on this board?

Bet the KINGS!!!

i keep getting this:

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when I try to download wmv

i keep getting this:

Http/1.1 Service Unavailable

when I try to download wmv

No errors from here. Refresh the page and make sure you're logged into the videos page that you're trying to download from, I guess? That sounds like the sort of error that might happen if your cookies expired.

Rob

Great episode.

I've really got to learn to steal those blinds more, I'm such a freaking nit!

Oh, and the Kings hand was nice. Fancy play syndrome! )

Hey pvwinkel,

After the flop gets capped the guy would have to be pretty bad to put in many bets on the turn with something like AK (not to mention the flop play) and we didn't have any indication of that. A reraise from the BB in this game appeared to be a very tight range of mostly big pairs so any further action from him vs our flop cap would definitely have me worried with my set. When he just calls it appears he has a hand like a pocket pair between nines and aces and is just calling down hoping we are overplaying something, so a raise by him on the river would make me put him pretty squarely on QQQ, I just don't see any other hand that makes sense for his range that he would raise on a Q river.

-DeathDonkey

In this episode you guys talk about a check/call check/call bet/fold line. Could you elaborate a little bit more? When would you take such a line and why? What does it tell you about an opponent when you see hime take this line?

It's a line that works well against tight players, particularly on an ace high board when they were the aggressor preflop, because their range is weighted towards big pocket pairs and good Ax hands, so if you have a weak Ax you beat a good chunk of their range but its hard to get a ton of value, since they may be capable of folding their pocket pair on an ace high board to much aggression.

A typical strategy for the guy holding QQ or whatever in that spot is to bet the flop and turn and then take a free showdown, to charge his opponent for a draw, to get some value, but not put in too many bets when obviously his opponent could have an ace. We counter that strategy by playing our hand a bit weakly (but also saving bets if behind to a big Ax) but then bet out on the river to prevent him checking down and getting a free showdown, our line also looks a bit suspicious and you often get the crying call on the river from the big pair, because its just one more bet to showdown. You can almost always fold to a raise which represents a BIG hand, because most TAGs are never going to turn their pocket pair into a bluff raise there.

If I saw someone take this line I'd think they were a thinking player for sure, someone capable of bet/folding is rare and is a good skill to have. On the other hand I could see them being a bit weak tight, as a lot more players today will play their top pair more aggressively and never fold it (right or wrong), and also I'd keep a little idea in the back of my head to make a river bluffraise against them in a similar spot

-DeathDonkey

Wow DD thanks for the comprehensive post. I'll get back at this post a couple of times for sure to let it sink in.

Also, the KK hand on the end got me thinking: In what circumstances do you guys NOT CBET the flop?

*cough* bump *cough*

;-)

Heads up and 3 ways I pretty much c-bet every flop. A time when not c-betting could be better is against a poor thinking LAG when you flop weak (ace high for instance) and you expect him to CR you with a wide range, and also bluff turn/river if you check. So you just check because your hand isn't good enough to put in 3 BB on the flop, turn, river but it is worth ~2 bb probably especially after you encourage him to bluff. But in general I think NOT c-betting is more of a problem where people see a bad flop for their hand and instead turn their hand face up by checking and then not knowing what to do after that. Post some example hands in our limit hold'em forums if you have trouble with that spot.

-DeathDonkey

OK thanks DD, that is clear. When I run into a hand I'll post it.