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Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by bottomset (Micro/Small Stakes)

I look forward to hearing feedback, suggestions from all of you, however I'll be out of town this weekend, and likely won't have access to a computer, so I won't get to respond to them until Monday or Tuesday

Hope everyone enjoys the video

Watched it and liked it, similar to bottomset's videos at 2+2 but with less cursing (or was it RyanCMU?).
I think this one and any future videos complement Dan's series very well, and with Angelo's book you get a full set.

Nice to see bottomset playing at FT instead of Stars. Obviously this goes beyond Dan's ABC-strategy, which I have been experimenting with along the series. Bottomset was 20/16 in this video and stealing 40 where as ABC seems to produce ~12/7, steal 21. Was interesting to see how ABC was opened up: one gapper suited (J9s) from HJ, K8s on the BTN, A5o and T9s in the CO. And open raising small PP's EP.

Would be useful to get Cliff notes what is the 1st step (and 2nd) in opening ABC preflop strategy.

I look forward to any future videos. It was funny watching how some of the bad SS's had evolved from 50NL and were now playing at 100NL. I need to up my ante also soon and make the transition to NL100, a little bit of grinding more to buffer the precious BR.

Well worth the effort appreciated by us nitty/extinct FR weirdos.

Great vid. FR content is greatly appreciated.

bottomset,

hi. enjoyed the vid.

can you explain the QJ shove?

nice video, I would like to see you make a 200NL FR one next.

Wow, I really do like this video.

One idea you pushed forward, intentionally or otherwise, is how important it is...
when you are both out of possition and you have what you consider to be a pretty dry flop you make a plan pretty quickly as to what you are going to do if you decide to have a stab at the pot.

The other thing you made clear was that trying to isolate the UTG is fine as long as your in a game where the players behind you are not too loose. Obviously that means in general the lower in buyins that you go the more likely it is that you do not want to be trying this move. As I only play the low $2 and $5 buyins (don't laugh its growing) I doubt that I will be using this move often but its still nice to know when the table turns a bit nitty.

You do play looser than true ABC but its not that far off, the reason you seem to be able to play these extra hands is the ability you have to quickly build a plan when the flop drops and sometimes before the flop. So, I suppose if I did want to see a video it would be playing none ABC hands and how you make a plan when a dry flop hits. Obviously it would probably have to be on a replayer as those situations do not hit that often.

excellent video, and when I have finally reached $100 buyins I reckon I will be nagging you to coach me.

speak up i can hardly hear u

very nice vid,

(but i don't like the shove with QJ, no worse hand calls)

(but i don't like the shove with QJ, no worse hand calls)

Thats true but irrelevant... you need to take into account fold equity - The "Mathematics of Poker" by WOT series covers it very well.
I made some very rough calcs and if the villan is CR with air, worse Jack or a draw ~60% the time here then jamming may be OK.

Do these hands make up 60% of his CR range? Good question, he is 34/18/8 so perhaps.

Would be useful to get Cliff notes what is the 1st step (and 2nd) in opening ABC preflop strategy.

I'm not sure exactly the steps, by the time I started playing FR, I had played a fair amount of 6max NL, I believe I started out around 16/12/3 off the bat at FR, and slowly loosened up(and then tightened up a little as I moved up) I think the best bet is to start experimenting with wider ranges on the button first, both open-raising and isolating, keep the same tight gameplan in EP and loosen up from the BTN/CO. Don't try and overhaul everything in one day, if there are tight blinds steal-raise anything connected or suited, see if they play back at all, watch to see if players are limp calling and then c/f a lot of flops and raise IP. Post hands in the forum, don't get disheartened if it doesn't work flawlessly right away

speak up i can hardly hear u

I got a new very nice headset which should help with that

nice video, I would like to see you make a 200NL FR one next.

yeah I can make videos at 200FR as well, I guess it depends on what is wanted the most(and likely I'll play a variety of different limits for the videos)

very nice vid,

(but i don't like the shove with QJ, no worse hand calls)

villian in the hand was very loose aggro 34/18/8 over a small sample, you have to be careful with AF, since it is (bet+raise)/call, folding isn't factored in, so its possible to get a high AF without being super aggro

some loose aggro players will get trappy with their big hands, but until I have seen that, I expect them to typically play their big hands fast preflop, so on the hand a poster posts in mp2, I iso QJs in the CO, and villian calls in the SB with 80bb

Js 8d 4d 10.5bb on flop
he checks, I bet 9bb and he c/mr

I thought he would RR TT+ AJ+ preflop most of the time, which is most of the hands that beat my hand on this flop, I don't think J8o or 84o are likely, 1combo of J8s possible, 3combos of 84s(which he might not call with) 6combos of 88/44, 8combos of KJ

J9s, JTs, JTo, J9o all could play the hand the same way, and its unlikely any of them would fold to a shove, that is 16combos, plus 76dd, 75dd, 65dd, T9s, QTdd, Q9dd, 97dd, A2-ATdd, KQdd all could show up that way, its a draw heavy board and he's been very aggro so far, so I think its reasonable for him to show up with a wide variety of hands here also occasionally air where he "puts me on AK"

I really doubt he folds any J he c/r here, since I've been called in this spot many many times by weaker 1pr hands, nor do I think he folds a draw here so versus that range I have around 53% equity which makes it shoving fine, anytime he is way way out of line and folds I takedown a very nice pot of 37.5BB

so if you take the range above and add in J8o, 84o I would drop to 47% equity which is fine to get allin for another 67bb, coupled with huge gain if he folds even a small % of the time

ok, thanks for the detailed explanation

ok, thanks for the detailed explanation

also its important to adjust your reads based on information as you get it, so I played the hand the way I did given how I thought he would play and felt it was the best option at the time

given that he did have KK, it makes the play more marginal, but I think its still ok to shove there, but I definitely would have made a note on the player about that hand if he stayed at the table, as its good to know that he gets trappy with his monsters preflop despite being very aggro in general

this was one hand where I felt I didn't get my thoughts across in the video as well as I would have liked, but thankfully there are forums to touch up any rough spots in video commentary

Nice vid. A hand that i don´t understand: @ ~20:00 you have AKo UTG. You 3-barrel OOP - Isn´t this going to be called by sets only most of the time ?

Nice vid. A hand that i don´t understand: @ ~20:00 you have AKo UTG. You 3-barrel OOP - Isn´t this going to be called by sets only most of the time ?

well its hard to make a set, with me having an A, a 4 hitting on the turn, there are 8combos of sets possible, however AA/99(4 of the 8) are very unlikely given how the action developed, AA would have to overcall preflop which is pretty rare, 99 would have to call 2bets on a A844 board if he did that and hit the river, well thats just unlucky for me(and bad play on his part)

His flop and turn calls were quick which is generally a draw or TP type hand, people that have sets typically take sometime before calling(or quickly raise) the only straight draws were gutshots, so they were unlikely unless they were hands like 65dd, so his hand looks most like AQ-AT or a draw(which missed)

AT-AQ is 24combos factoring in my cards/the board, A9 is 6combos of additional hands that beat me, but if he is showing up with A9 here that likely means he will have other Ax hands a lot of the time and I don't expect him to fold the river with them, A8 is 6combos, A4 is 4combos, hands like 54dd, 64dd make sense too

with the Ad on the board, the number of diamond draws is typically pretty small, since there is only 1combo of each(KJdd, KTdd etc)

so his calling range that loses is AT-AQ which is 24combos, plus some A5, A3, A2 type hands occasionally as well

his calling/shoving range that beats us is 88, 44, A4, A8, A9, 54dd, 64dd which is 22combos, but decent chance he raises the 2pr or better hands earlier in the hand

so it looks pretty close, I didn't think A9 was in his range but since it is it likely means a lot more Ax hands are in there too, and they all might calldown as well, I'm pretty sure he wasn't folding A9 there if he missed 2pr(speed of his call almost made it seem like he didn't realize he hit a 9)

I loved this video as I mostly play full ring at this level.

All the points I would have queried I have been brought up in this thread.

I was happy to see stats - my stats match identical except for Agression Turn and Agression River, where I'm definitely more of a pussy (I used to be more aggressive but toned it down due to variance). So it's good to see a pro's stats and compare.

Hey dude, I watched the first half hour and will get to the rest later. Good job so far!

Here are some comments I put together that may complement your audio commentary:

1:15 - I would almost always pot the flop here with 73o, because he's folding so much of his range and you'd be happy to steal it. This applies to just about any limped SB vs. my BB hand, really.

1:45 - I am not sure I like your 3-bet shove with AJ since none of your "outs" are all that great if you get called, and I don't think its a board that many people will try a naked c/r bluff. But for him to limp-call pre, his range is pretty weak so that helps your FE some.

6:30 - I probably wouldn't fold AQ to a reraise in a shorthanded setting there, but if you think that your opponents at this level aren't good at adjusting to a shorthanded table when it happens then you can keep giving them that level of respect that you would at a full table.

10:15 - J7o isn't really worth considering a call with OOP no matter how sweet the odds are (unless its against the world's biggest fish and you have deep stacks)

15:30 - I think your J2hh call preflop is bad, nothing you hit will be particularly great except trip 2's or two pair, and you're somewhat often in a reverse-implied odds situation too. I'd prefer 85s.

18:15 - the better your opponents are, the worse it is to openraise little pairs in EP. I prefer to balance my range by limping more big hands rather than raising more little ones, if my opponents are aggressively fighting for pots that I open when they have position on me.

18:30 - I would somewhat often check that flop with AT to induce bluffs and control the pot a little. You can maybe get more valuebets out of them on later streets that way, too. But betting is fine too, and probably standard.

22:00 - T8o is a bad hand to isolate a UTG limper, even if he is a fish. Unless he's specifically noted to limp-fold too much, and all the players behind you are super tight.

23:30 - I think I'd shove the KQhh against the fish coldcaller, to isolate the all-in player and keep the fish from calling with a weak hand and outflopping you, given his stack size it works pretty well. With KQ if you make a hand, chances are he won't pay you off, but if you had like a medium pair there I'd say call, because your equity against the shorty is not great but if you hit a set you may win a nice sidepot too.

29:45 - With QQ on a J high board, I'd much rather bet out like you did than go for a tricky c/r, because a lot of his hands have 6 outs and giving him a free card is pretty dangerous (plus even if he doesn't have those cards, your action is killed if they come!). A c/r is a better option with AA here imo, since you aren't terribly concerned about whatever card might come on the turn if he checks it back.

1:45 - I am not sure I like your 3-bet shove with AJ since none of your "outs" are all that great if you get called, and I don't think its a board that many people will try a naked c/r bluff. But for him to limp-call pre, his range is pretty weak so that helps your FE some.

I was really blown away by this hand. I would have definitely folded with a Jack high flush draw. You seemed to know opposition would fold to a shove, more power to you.

22:00 - T8o is a bad hand to isolate a UTG limper, even if he is a fish. Unless he's specifically noted to limp-fold too much, and all the players behind you are super tight.

I would agree - but I figured that you were just mixing up your game. Aren't you supposed to raise with trash occasionally?

definitely the best fullring vid so far on DC

Aren't you supposed to raise with trash occasionally?

No. When there are so many cool speculative hands that actually have value that you could play instead, raising trash is unnecessary and generally ill-advised.

hey, i joined for a month at deuces b/c of DJ's Nit or Not series, as i have been playing FR lately. when i came across this vid. it was an added bonus for me! i hope that you put out another one. i will have to watch this one again, to get a good feel for the moves. i also think its awesome for you that you are basically getting a double-whammy w/ this vid... not only are you coaching those under you (a la myself), but you are essentially getting a free coaching session from DJ, with his critique.. and the kicker is that we all get to benefit from it.

anyway, i have been playing 50nl FR and here are my stats so far:
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc12/imnuts22/50nlstats.jpg

i'm happy w/ the overall winrate.. but look at the aggression stats... 1.5-1.7 AF seems puny and weak compared to you... seems as though i may be missing some value and i need to learn how and when is appropriate to turn up the heat.. request to focus on that in the next vid.

thanks.

edit: don't know why the links/image for my stats didn't "highlight" for you to click and see.. but oh well.. you can paste to the address bar if you really care, i guess.

22:00 - T8o is a bad hand to isolate a UTG limper, even if he is a fish. Unless he's specifically noted to limp-fold too much, and all the players behind you are super tight.

yeah, sometimes I get a little overboard with isolating, anything with some connected possibilities and I go with it

as for the ATs hand I have been checking more in spots like that lately, and the results have been good, I like betting as well.

the QQ hand, yeah I agree with that with QQ, and checking with AA being better, though since he was peeling AT I'd prob bet both since he's putting in a fair bit really bad, and i rather not give him freecards when he's calling with those UI hands

the 73o one, I guess I am a little more passive, I do bet there a fair bit will try out betting more though, agree with the J7o, J2s comments just a little sloppy play with J2s(I think i did fold J7o after some thought)

AQ I typically give some credit to the first RR, and .5/1 fr players aren't typically adjusting to SH situations too much, I don't like folding it, but I think its ok given what I've seen at the level

hey, i joined for a month at deuces b/c of DJ's Nit or Not series, as i have been playing FR lately. when i came across this vid. it was an added bonus for me! i hope that you put out another one. i will have to watch this one again, to get a good feel for the moves. i also think its awesome for you that you are basically getting a double-whammy w/ this vid... not only are you coaching those under you (a la myself), but you are essentially getting a free coaching session from DJ, with his critique.. and the kicker is that we all get to benefit from it.

anyway, i have been playing 50nl FR and here are my stats so far:
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc12/imnuts22/50nlstats.jpg

i'm happy w/ the overall winrate.. but look at the aggression stats... 1.5-1.7 AF seems puny and weak compared to you... seems as though i may be missing some value and i need to learn how and when is appropriate to turn up the heat.. request to focus on that in the next vid.

thanks.

edit: don't know why the links/image for my stats didn't "highlight" for you to click and see.. but oh well.. you can paste to the address bar if you really care, i guess.

glad to hear you liked the video, I will be making more, I haven't been feeling too great the past couple days so I didn't get it done yet , DC really focuses on making quality videos, so I don't want to rush one out, just to have a new one out there

its tough to leakfind from stats, $won, winrate are very good, it looks like you are playing a little too passive, I'll try to focus on postflop aggression(and some preflop as well) in the next video

New to DC. I exclusively play full ring, usually NL50 and PLHE50. I found this video useful, because I recognize the need to isolate players with high VPIP and/ or high fold to CB %. I believe you called this your bread and butter. Those are probably the two most important stats I should be looking at when deciding to isolate then? Does it matter much what their cold call % is? I would assume that if their VPIP was high, I'd like a high cc% also. Maybe a low cc% would be okay also, because if they fold I don't mind, but I guess I'd rather they call, then fold the flop to my CB. I think I remember seeing an isolation play with T7s from LP. With hands like this vs. 1 limper, what stats are you generally looking for the limper? 25% plus VPIP? 70% plus fold to CB?

I have a question about limping in EP: Usually i consider many callers a good thing with pocket pairs. I try to play them only if i see a chance to get 10 times my initial call -> So if i get 2 or 3 callers i already got 2 or 3 times my investment + there is a better chance someone has a hand / a draw to pay me off. Does this make any sense to you ?

You made a comment on how FR TAG players don't like to get stacked with overpairs. Due to this, they play them weakly and implement pot control too much. This pretty much somes me up with overpairs. I believe it comes from the early days of learning to play and trying not to pay off sets.

Assuming we have an overpair and were the preflop aggressor.

What do you look for in opponent/stack/board texture/IP or OOP/the way the hand has already played, to determine if you are folding to the raise? calling to evaluate? playing for stacks?

Loved the video! Looking forward to the next one.

New to DC. I exclusively play full ring, usually NL50 and PLHE50. I found this video useful, because I recognize the need to isolate players with high VPIP and/ or high fold to CB %. I believe you called this your bread and butter. Those are probably the two most important stats I should be looking at when deciding to isolate then? Does it matter much what their cold call % is? I would assume that if their VPIP was high, I'd like a high cc% also. Maybe a low cc% would be okay also, because if they fold I don't mind, but I guess I'd rather they call, then fold the flop to my CB. I think I remember seeing an isolation play with T7s from LP. With hands like this vs. 1 limper, what stats are you generally looking for the limper? 25% plus VPIP? 70% plus fold to CB?

I don't have any set in stone rules, generally I look for players that play pretty predictably postflop, the tighter players frequently play fit or fold with their small pairs(which often is the bulk of their limp/call range) and its very hard to hit a set, or have the board setup that I can't bluff them off of it, the looser players you can valuebet much lighter, they let you take freecards at will and won't extract well when they have you beat

I have a question about limping in EP: Usually i consider many callers a good thing with pocket pairs. I try to play them only if i see a chance to get 10 times my initial call -> So if i get 2 or 3 callers i already got 2 or 3 times my investment + there is a better chance someone has a hand / a draw to pay me off. Does this make any sense to you ?

multiwaypots are good for when you have a hand that is weak most of the time, but very strong when you hit and likely to beat many opponents with ease, also many players will often overvalue weak draws in limped pots such as drawing to 2pr with bottom pair on flop, weak flushdraws(with nothing else going for them), non-nut gutshots hands that when a ton of money goes in often are in really bad shape, my goal in limped pots is to try and have the best draw and crush when both draws hit, or best made hand and get value from people overvaluing a weaker made hand

sets/nfd are the types that come up a fair bit where you can get a lot of money in very good

You made a comment on how FR TAG players don't like to get stacked with overpairs. Due to this, they play them weakly and implement pot control too much. This pretty much somes me up with overpairs. I believe it comes from the early days of learning to play and trying not to pay off sets.

Assuming we have an overpair and were the preflop aggressor.

What do you look for in opponent/stack/board texture/IP or OOP/the way the hand has already played, to determine if you are folding to the raise? calling to evaluate? playing for stacks?

I might have phrased it poorly, the basic idea is you should have a good reason to want to fold an overpair, or slowdown with it, and often the tags just instashutdown anytime they get called on the flop, sometimes even vs really weak players that will call 3streets but often check behind

the biggest thing is always think about your opponents range, if the board is draw happy and the turn blanks its likely they still have a draw type hand and you probably don't want to give them a free card at it, if their calling preflop range is a lot of small pairs and the board comes 643 then you can be worried, also a lot of times they will call with worse and raise better so you can bet/fold vs someone that isn't going to bluffraise the turn, but still calls a second bet with a draw or weaker pair

nice vid - keep them coming - more FR at 200NLH would be great

DC rocks - it is great that not only the pro who made the video but other DC pro's are in on the discussion - awesome

thanks

just signed up, first video I watched--halfway through and I'm really enjoying it

Don't know if anybody will respond anymore but I'll give it a shot. the ATh hand in which you got 2 cold callers after raising an open limp--you seemed very confident you were ahead. I must be missing a lot of value but it seems like AQ is a HUGE part of his range there, and AK and AJ cold call sometimes as well. I was just curious what considerations you had in determining a draw was such a big part of his range. Additionally, you accidentally checked the turn but I would pretty much always be checking there to keep it small when I'm (imo) often dominated, as well as protect from a semi-bluff raise with a draw. Were you really prepared to b/c that turn? That's pretty sick man, I feel like I run into a better hand ALL THE TIME in that spot.

Great Video bottomset. I just recently moved up to NL100 from NL50 and have been getting run over by Regs. I really like your fast paced aggressive style that allows me to apply the pressure with big bet sizing and well placed aggression. I plan on applying techniques demonstrated.

I don't know if anyone is still watching this thread but I was disturbed by this hand around 21 minutes in.

An early player limps and a middle player and the cutoff call. Hero checks from the big blind with T♦2♥.

The flop is T♣9♣7♦. There is $4.30 in the pot. Hero has $110 and the stacks range from $50 to $200.

Hero checks and it gets checked around.

The turn makes the board T♣9♣7♦T♥. Hero bets $3, the early player folds, the middle player calls, and the cutoff raises all in for $49. The remaining effective stacks are $95. There is $59 in the pot and it costs $46 to call (1.3-to-1 pot odds).

My question is this. What possible hand that beats you fits the villain's action, namely a check on the flop and a huge overbet on the turn.

Well, he explained that he felt it was a huge overbet and had to fold. I guess he decided his trips with the worst possible kicker was no good.

I've watched all of his vids, and imo Bottomset is an excellent player and makes some impressive reads.

Well, he explained that he felt it was a huge overbet and had to fold. I guess he decided his trips with the worst possible kicker was no good.

I've watched all of his vids, and imo Bottomset is an excellent player and makes some impressive reads.

I heard the explanation, but I don't see what the villain could have. If he had a ten for top pair, wouldn't he have bet the draw-heavy board on the flop? If he had trips, why bet so much on the turn, insuring that you get no value?

The same reasoning applies to just about any strong hand, including a straight or full house. Why would he check the flop with hands like those?

I'm not satisfied with the logic that says, "He bet big. I must be beat." What hand fits his action?

A slowplayed hand, Fish like to get tricky. The fold is fine as villain is unlikely to bluff here in a multiway pot with a bet and a caller

The fold is fine and 100% standard.