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

tuba & baluga! What a great unique combo! Great job guys, N.

Been waiting all day for this one, yummy.

Hello i really like ur series,thanks to u two guys I also would like to know how is it possible to find a coach or a kind of mentor like you guys? I guess it's not free but we never know Thanks again

BalugaWhale fo govna!

I assume Tuba is the straight man? I reckon he needs his deodorant before the video shoot...and during! Coupled with a couple of beers afterwards.

This series is proving to be the nuts this season. Go Balugawhale!

By far the best videos I have seen on any limit and on any site!

Brilliant, brilliant performance here Baluga.

...........

Series Idea: Blank screen with Baluga just talking about poker for 2 hours. 12 episodes, 6 seasons.

Really....one of the best vids I've ever seen. Your explanation of the 'why'`s just hit the spot, and really are the key to understanding good poker. MORE!!!!!

Couple of questions:

1. I raise hands like 77 and AQ from the blinds vs limpers almost 100% of the time, but it seems that they also cause a lot of problems since I'm playing these calling-station-type players who frequently call at least 1 barrel post-flop. So when I miss the flop (or it comes JT3 in the case of 77/88 type hands) it puts me in lots of tough situations. What are some of the lines you take vs these opponents on different flop textures. I'm assuming it's ok to fire then go into ch-c mode or even ch-f if the board gets too scary/your RIO become too high?

2. You mentioned T8s having more post-flop value than preflop. How about a hand like AQs in pos vs an opp who wont just call the 3bet oop? I cold-call in these spots frequently since I think I can get more value when I hit since a lot of the times my opp will just R-f preflop. I'm assuming you call more also if they are more likely to 4bet you? (it turns the AQs, for example, into a bluff right?) Somewhat related- Do you ever 3bet less to make an opp call you with hands he might otherwise have folded- I've been thinking about some pros and cons of such a play... I'm assuming such a play is a lot more exploitable at higher stakes since you now have more to balance, but at lower stakes- whatever works, no?

Anyway, very hungry for more!

Thanks a lot

Love this series!

Series Idea: Blank screen with Baluga just talking about poker for 2 hours. 12 episodes, 6 seasons.

I would give myroll-$50 for that

I'm currently collecting potential coaches for MSNL for myself and baluga certainly makes the list because I think we would disagree so often which would lead to awesome coaching sessions with lots of value.
Not saying that he's wrong or anything but in all of his videos I have multiple ORLY moments and he usually defends his ideas well. I think I could learn tons just from arguing with him

THis is just what i needed. Great job both of you.

Wow... outstanding vid guys. I like how baluga is able to articulate WHY certain actions are standard and not just "know" it's standard. Instead of saying "it depends," he tells you what exactly it depends on. Also, the preflop hand selection info was priceless. Well done.

Ty tubasteve and Baluga for a great video.

Totaly outstanding

I'm currently collecting potential coaches for MSNL for myself and baluga certainly makes the list because I think we would disagree so often which would lead to awesome coaching sessions with lots of value.
Not saying that he's wrong or anything but in all of his videos I have multiple ORLY moments and he usually defends his ideas well. I think I could learn tons just from arguing with him

But this is exactly what we need, people who have sometimes controversial ideas and approach poker with a new angle. That is why I like Baluga and Chaostricize, they don't necessarily agree with each other but both can explain their ideas and reasons very well.

Brilliant, brilliant performance here Baluga.

...........

Series Idea: Blank screen with Baluga just talking about poker for 2 hours. 12 episodes, 6 seasons.

Go for this! I close my eyes all the time and just listen to Baluga

Go for this! I close my eyes all the time and just listen to Baluga

What are u thinking about when you do this. ManCrush IMO

YEAH, was waiting for it since last episode !

Series Idea: Blank screen with Baluga just talking about poker for 2 hours. 12 episodes, 6 seasons.

Baluga just doing a vid or two...or a series just talking about gameplay and theory would be sick!

I think Baluga talks about theoretical concepts better than just about anyone else I've ever seen in a poker video. To borrow that old Einstein quote, he presents the game as simply as possible, but no simpler

Thanks for the great vid guys.

Great vid again so far. I just wanted to get some clarification on something that I think a LOT of players, including myself, confuse.

Around the 38:00 min. mark, you guys are talking about playing more loosely against weaker players because edge in skill advantage will compensate for a lack in card advantage. I think a lot of players get this, perhaps to a point that it's overused and this is actually brought up earlier in the video.

There, BW says that you want to play hands that win more often at SD (TP type hands, hands you can valuebet) against players more likely to SD (commonly weaker players) and avoiding hands that don't SD well (86 or something was the example). Against tighter players, you can play the 86 etc hands since you're not going to SD often.

I think it's common for a lot of us previously to have raised the SC-type hands against weaker players for the first reason; we are taking the worst of it in hand strength since the skill advantage will compensate. But that's at odds with the 2nd reason to not raise hands that don't SD well which makes perfect sense too.

Can you clarify this? Is one defined by loose/tight and the other defined by strong/weak and we're just associating loose with weak and tight with strong too much in these spots?

Thank you to very much, it appears that I have been needed to obtain more value from my game and am missing several spots. I will have to watch this one again.

Wow. I constantly found myself pausing and rewinding while watching this to absorb all the information as well as possible. BalugaWhale is an absolutely amazing addition to the DeucesCracked cast. He is gifted not only with tons of poker insight, but also with the ability to communicate it really well. This is all about the why, not the what. I think this really shows that even micro stakes videos can go way beyond the sound but occasionally shallow advice that is usually offered. It's only episode 2, but this is already my favorite DC series. I am hoping to see lots more from Baluga in the future.

love this series, learned so much in that two vids

I love this series. I love the way Baluga talks about concepts and just makes playing poker
very easy. Thank you very much for this series :-)

Wow. I constantly found myself pausing and rewinding while watching this to absorb all the information as well as possible

ditto, great vid

This series is a Good Beat!

Great Job!

I like they way BW explains why he would do whatever action he recommends.

One point I don't understand, when he talks about K5s being a coolering hand, I'm afraid I don't get it. Won't we be the one getting coolered when we make top and bottom pair and our opponent makes top and middle pair?

Thanks.

Wheres the luv for Tuba Steve?

All his videos are good. I think TS is the perfect person for BW to throw concepts at and ask questions.

Great job. Worth this months membership fee for just this episode.

We see a button 1/6 hands. Lets say we steal blinds 100% from the btn.
Thats 100 hands / 6 hands * 1.5 BB = 12.5ptbb

Thats 12.5ptbb/100 difference to our winrate. If we only open half our hands on the button and they only fold half the time, we still have a 3.125 bonus. I checked my stats and I steal 48% from BTN and 44% are successful. Thats 2.62ptbb right there without accounting for postflop equity. How can this be a misconception or considered not "much money"?

If we open J7o or T4s, we win 0.375 ptbb just when they fold. Per hand. Thats $7.5 at 5/10. Thats more than we are ever going to make on such hands in any other spot. Thats a lot more than we make per hand.

Another great video guys, thank you very much. I have a minor critique, the screen had so much visual clutter on found it heard to follow a long as well as I would have liked to. It would be great if you asked people to use a cleaner layout for these videos.

Also a series with clowntable being coached by Baluge would be epic.

Now, your profit on steal, will not obv change much whether you open 30% or 50% OTB, at least at these stakes. People just won't adjust, nits will still fold and fish will still call regardless of your dynamic. However postflop it will change. If you open junk like 95o, you much rather just take it preflop than say you had AA. I think its pretty obvious that the wider your opening range is, the less money you gonna make per hand (not overall, but per hand) postflop. And I think there is a certain threshold of button opening range, where a steal is more profitable than playing the hand postflop. This may not be true for AA, but certainly is for 23o against most players, varying on blinds and players edge.

Great video!
So far this series is the absolute best that I have ever seen, and look forward to more. I am seriously canceling my subscription to certain other training sites, just because I feel I don't even need them.

Tubasteve is always good, and with Baluga added, this series = GOLD!!

corsak--
youre obviously not wrong. I'm just trying to get people into the habit of thinking "what will my hand look like postflop" instead of just saying yay, 2 cards on the button, i raise. While you may make extra money by stealing more blinds, you often lose even more money by being in bad spots postflop when you get called. obviously if the blinds are super nitty you raise a wide range of hands that play well postflop vs tight players, and if the blinds are super loose you raise a range of hands that play well postflop vs loose players.

xerocat--
to answer pretty simply:
suited connectors aren't the greatest of all time to play against loose/passive players, but they're still good enough.

Anyone have the link to the 2+2 discussion between Chaostracize and BalugaWhale? I'm curious to hear their respective theories on what type of hands are good to 3-bet and which hands aren't. I continually find myself in good spots to 3-bet but I'm not sure whether the hand has enough value to call or if I should be 3-betting them, or possibly mucking them. Any info on the subject I can get would be much appreciated

xerocat--
to answer pretty simply:
suited connectors aren't the greatest of all time to play against loose/passive players, but they're still good enough.

Baluge, i think you're wrong here.
As you said SC are not that good to raise from the BTN than vs. tags/regs.. Although i agree i like to raise them vs. loose players nearly as often than vs. tags.
Beside the fact that you're stealing the blinds a decent amount anyway there're times where you flop a very strong hand/draw. And this is exactly what we want vs. loose players. These times we will stack them very often, so that we don't need very much FE the other times (i'd even say that winning the pot w/ a cbet in 1/3 of the times is enough considering that we stack our opponents often when we hit good).
This said you can open actually pretty wide range like 86o/42s from the BTN vs. loose players. I guess the point is that i want to play as many pots with them as possible, because when i hit good (even w/ offsuit connectors) i'll stack them a good amount of the time..

Baluge, as you were advocating not raising too light from the BTN vs. loose players I really like to hear your counter-arguments, as imo these are very good reasons to raise very light (50/60%) from the BTN.

Another thing i wanted to be clarified is the calling/3betting thing at around ~15:00-18:00 min.
You said that you prefer calling over 3betting in this spot, because your hand has more value postflop than preflop.
Just to clarify there're certain conditions for it to be true right?
I guess the most important one is that my opponent plays passive postflop, meaning that he cbets and gives up when he misses (so that you can take the pot from him when HU)and that there're no 3bettors behind me.
But how do you know that calling is more valuable than 3betting?
He has a wide opening range and probably a tight 3bet-calling range, so this makes it perfect to 3bet for hands like T8s, cause he'll often fold and WHEN he calls you're not dominated and can play for really big pots (not to speak about that he'll often fold to your cbets as well).

May i further ask how you're dealing the question "What is more valuable in this spot? 3betting or calling?".
It seems that you're first searching for reasons to call before you search reasons to 3bet, aren't you?
What factors do you need to justify a call over a 3bet IP and OOP?
It would be nice if you could give me an answer to that as well.
Thank you & keep it going :-)

Anyone have the link to the 2+2 discussion between Chaostracize and BalugaWhale?

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/56/medium-stakes-pl-nl/bad-habit-3-betting-range-choice-146036/

It's a long read but definitely worth it. Just ignore most of the usual 2+2 morons and focus on the posts from people who know what they're talking about.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/56/medium-stakes-pl-nl/bad-habit-3-betting-range-choice-146036/

It's a long read but definitely worth it. Just ignore most of the usual 2+2 morons and focus on the posts from people who know what they're talking about.

This discussion was excellent and had enough good points that it's hard to be sure of whom is more correct and is very thought provoking; a sure sign that you'll walk away with a better understanding than what you began with.

cobby--

you've gone into a lot of depth here and i appreciate the thought and effort. Unfortunately i'm currently in the sahara desert and am unable to write out a really long, thoughtful response.

but i think you have a lot of stuff backwards. i think if you think raising 42s into a player who gets to showdown a lot is a good thing, you're off.


on the contrary by the way, id look for reasons to 3bet first before reasons to call. T8s doesnt play super well in a 3bet pot compared with in a raised pot.
watch more of the vids ill try to explain further.
thanks
Andrew

Baluge, as you were advocating not raising too light from the BTN vs. loose players I really like to hear your counter-arguments, as imo these are very good reasons to raise very light (50/60%) from the BTN.

This highly depends of the playetype you are up against. Yes, you will stack a 45vpip/35WTSD fish if you hit big with your 57o, but whenever you do not hit big and you are forced to see a showdown, you will lose a good amount in the proccess of trying to hit big. If you however to play a bit tighter and play hands that are more likely to hit big and win at showdown you will be able to win alot more in the long run, because you will not nearly as often lose at showdowns.



Also the more often someone goes to showdown the thinner you have to bet for value.

Lets say someone goes to showdown +40% (VPIP +45) and you have A2 on a AK593 board, no flush. Against this guy you should bet all 3 streets for pure value and might even consider overbet shoving the river, because he very likely will call you with worse, while against someone with an VPIP of 19 and a WTSD of ~20 you usually can shutdown after betting the flop.

Another thing I'd like to mention is the different value of SC's against different playertypes.

The general assumption that you want to play them against players that are too loose is wrong. Usually the more often villain goes to showdown the higher your SC's should be, because in 23s will loose alot more at showdown against those playertypes than lets say 78s, therefore you shouldn't raise 23s or 24s on cu/btn against players that are likely to go to showdown.
Against people that are loose but do not see too many showdowns however you can play 23s a way more profitable because you will be able to apply more preasure against them on later streets when you have decent Equity and Fold equity.

Here just a few examples for those situations...

against a 42VPIP/WTSD 38

23s on a KsJd6c5s (we are IP)

Villain here is NEVER EVER going to fold to your turnbet and even if in a vaccum people would say that given the equity we have this is a good 2nd barrel spot to fold out TT/Jx/6x, against this kind of player it would be a -EV play and we should try to hit on the river.

against a 38/19 WTSD

23s on a KsJd6c5s (we are IP)
In this scenario we have a way more foldequity on the turn to fold out his weak holdings and also are more likely to be able to bluff the river if we miss one of our outs and therefore a 2nd barrel along with a 3rd barrel are a way more profitable.

And as you can see, in the 2nd scenario we have a way more options than in the 1st and therefore are more often able to play a weak SC profitable.

corsak--
youre obviously not wrong. I'm just trying to get people into the habit of thinking "what will my hand look like postflop" instead of just saying yay, 2 cards on the button, i raise. While you may make extra money by stealing more blinds, you often lose even more money by being in bad spots postflop when you get called. obviously if the blinds are super nitty you raise a wide range of hands that play well postflop vs tight players, and if the blinds are super loose you raise a range of hands that play well postflop vs loose players.

Right, just the way it sounds in the video is like you undervalue blind steal in general. If I understand you correctly, you consider blind steal as a side effect or bonus to the hands postflop equity and your skill edge. Rather than seeing the steal as the primary goal and postflop equity, such as suit or high card value, as a back up plan.

Right, just the way it sounds in the video is like you undervalue blind steal in general. If I understand you correctly, you consider blind steal as a side effect or bonus to the hands postflop equity and your skill edge. Rather than seeing the steal as the primary goal and postflop equity, such as suit or high card value, as a back up plan.

I think a lot of where Andrew is coming from here is this: when you win the blinds, you have nothing to think about, therefore lets think about what types of things will happen when we DO have to make a decision on the flop. so just always be thinking about which types of hands play best vs other players and you can still maintain a high steal % while making sure you postflop value if called.

nooo baluga nooooooooo why cant u let ppl keep 3betting playable hands IP instead of calling

nooo baluga nooooooooo why cant u let ppl keep 3betting playable hands IP instead of calling

LOL.

Great video guys. I've learned a huge amount from just the first two episodes of this series.

i would really like to see this series in ipod form even though it's a four table video. its pretty much all conversation and the video is not needed to still gain a lot from it.

I really think DC should increase their rate to 200$/month and stop taking any more clients, because of series like this one or prof plotkin

Listening to the reasons for what to play, when and against what type of opponent was very, very informative. My only problem with the video (and this is minor) is Tuba's bedside manner. He constantly interrupts people before they finish making their point, and blurts out what he wants to add. When he restrains himself from interrupting he has a very dismissive sounding "yeah" which seems more than just a tad rude.

Bare in mind that I only mentioned what I did as something minor and with the intention of adding to what is a very high quality and excellent piece of work.

Fwiw, tuba did calm down some, toward the end of the video....

i would really like to see this series in ipod form even though it's a four table video. its pretty much all conversation and the video is not needed to still gain a lot from it.

http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/13-Videos/topics/8579-Tool-Time-Converting-Videos-to-iPod?page=1#posts-59838

FTW.

Rob

What makes A6s better for a 3bet pot than 98o?

What makes A6s better for a 3bet pot than 98o?

well for starters, think about how likely you are to win the pot (at showdown) when you have A6s vs 98o against some different 3-bet calling ranges. then consider the fact that with A high flushes we can out flush people. THEN consider the fact that when we have Axs we reduce the number of AK/AA combos by about 25% (rough estimate, could be wrong on this so watch prof. plotkin!) and we also have much better equity the times we do see the flop since flopping an A will give us the best hand against all his pairs.

i just woke up like 4 minutes ago so if thats not clear let me know and i apologize in advance

since flopping an A will give us the best hand against all his pairs.

except one

well for starters, think about how likely you are to win the pot (at showdown) when you have A6s vs 98o against some different 3-bet calling ranges. then consider the fact that with A high flushes we can out flush people. THEN consider the fact that when we have Axs we reduce the number of AK/AA combos by about 25% (rough estimate, could be wrong on this so watch prof. plotkin!) and we also have much better equity the times we do see the flop since flopping an A will give us the best hand against all his pairs.

i just woke up like 4 minutes ago so if thats not clear let me know and i apologize in advance

Sounds good to me. Thanks.

Wow, this series is great. This episode blows the first one out of the water and I thought the first episode was really good!

honestly the best poker video iv ever watched, so thnx very much.

but i just dont understand why your saying 79s/78s is a definate raise from MP. i never raise those hands from MP, and i play a TAG style, i thought those hands where loose opens for LAGs. dont understand why they are definate opens, in my oppinion they are marginal opens and its up to the player/maybe the table dynamics?..

http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/13-Videos/topics/8579-Tool-Time-Converting-Videos-to-iPod?page=1#posts-59838

FTW.

Rob

Hey Entity. Glad you made that point. I watched the video once and then listened, without watching, twice. Baluga and Tuba discussed so many points in great detail that watching the video was almost moot.

Great work and I'm so glad I joined the club...

Thanks guys,

F

So i read teh two plus two thread with baluga and chaos. Can someone tell me if I'm understanding this correctly. I know that this is villain dependent, but as far as your 25/20 villan goes:

3bet pots: KQo plays well because if called and you flop top pair, the only hand that dominates you is AQ because AK, AA, KK, and QQ would have 4bet pf: also worse hand are still in the pot. Sc’s are not good in 3bet pot because the SPR is too low to have FE.

QUESTION: Baluga said: "btw- all of that applies more to 3betting OOP than 3betting IP, though it does apply generally to 3bet situations."
What are some differences between playing PREFLOP 3bet pots IP and OOP?

This series is the nuts. Andrew's discussion of pot management has paid immediate dividends in that my river bets are much more profitable. Thanks so much and I look forward to this series! Keep up the great work guys.

TD

best vid ever. great.

it stops after 28 mins?
is it totally watchable if I download it?

it stops after 28 mins?
is it totally watchable if I download it?

yeah

Thanks

Listening to the reasons for what to play, when and against what type of opponent was very, very informative. My only problem with the video (and this is minor) is Tuba's bedside manner. He constantly interrupts people before they finish making their point, and blurts out what he wants to add. When he restrains himself from interrupting he has a very dismissive sounding "yeah" which seems more than just a tad rude.

Bare in mind that I only mentioned what I did as something minor and with the intention of adding to what is a very high quality and excellent piece of work.

Fwiw, tuba did calm down some, toward the end of the video....

[Discussion necro]
In general I'd agree with you, but Baluga talks so much Steve pretty much _has_ to interrupt him to say anything at all

Late to the party since I just signed up (again), just needed to throw my love towards tuba and baluga with the others. Such a sick good series and the best I've seen so far on DC, hands down. Thanks guys!

Time Link to 00:35:32

Bottom left table with 55.. Obviously we are betting for value on the flop which is very dry. Do you think that villain gave us a good reason to fold on his raise. It looks like to me he's re-stealing the pot there. You think reraising there is an option?

Thanks,
Great series btw

Bottom left table with 55.. Obviously we are betting for value on the flop which is very dry. Do you think that villain gave us a good reason to fold on his raise. It looks like to me he's re-stealing the pot there. You think reraising there is an option?

Thanks,
Great series btw

we kinda rushed over that huh.

id rather call than reraise, simply because if i think hes bluffing there hes probably so airheavy that i can call down several streets. however, if i dont think hes bluffing enough, id just fold.

Andrew

Time Link to 00:17:31

T8s:

Of course T8s is a very nice hand to coldcall IP for known reasons (you can flop husge, you can flop potEq. and playmore often agressivley,you have less reverse implieds...).
So as default Iwould of course coldcall IP such a hand as for example Bu vs. a Co-openraise.
But there is one exception:
Squeezy blinds.
Here I would 3bet or fold depending on the opponent.
my concret question:

Where is here the border where you taking the risk preflop of coldcalling, but with the danger to get squeezed?

How high have the squeeze-stat ofat least one opponent to be, in order to not coldcall such a pretty hand?

T8s:

Of course T8s is a very nice hand to coldcall IP for known reasons (you can flop husge, you can flop potEq. and playmore often agressivley,you have less reverse implieds...).
So as default Iwould of course coldcall IP such a hand as for example Bu vs. a Co-openraise.
But there is one exception:
Squeezy blinds.
Here I would 3bet or fold depending on the opponent.
my concret question:

Where is here the border where you taking the risk preflop of coldcalling, but with the danger to get squeezed?

How high have the squeeze-stat ofat least one opponent to be, in order to not coldcall such a pretty hand?

i think this is a very good post, and the answer is that this "border" is something that has to be felt out, or estimated, and can't really be *known*.

Andrew

i think this is a very good post, and the answer is that this "border" is something that has to be felt out, or estimated, and can't really be *known*.

Andrew

First of all, great that you are answering in an older thread - respect

Yeah,
I have guessed that there cannot be a clear answer.
In vacuum I would say that a squeeze-stat of >8% looks dangerouse.

Time Link to 00:19:12

98o:

Definetlyagree with you that Hands with good EQ. and hands which will often more often a SD are way better to 3bet pre OOP.
Just b/cof your reasoning that ppl are calling on average IP more 3bets -> you need postflop more often a madehands or/and some decent EQ.

What you think about SCs/SOGs to 3bet OOP vs. Steals?
Of course SCs/SOGs will flop postflop more often some EQ with which you will be able to play aggressivley postflop and stand more often some pressure...
On the other side, they also will flop very rarely a decent madehands...

What you thik in general about this?

Time Link to 00:39:08

Additionally to the both concepts , skill -and cardadvantage and their relationships between them, you have also mentioned shortly the positionaladvantage.
How this relates to the others?

I just guess:

1.) The less cardadvantage you have the more important it is, to be IP postflop.
2.) the less skilladvantage you have, the more important it is to play postflop IP

and opposite.

right so?
Are there any other relationships and interactions between these 3 great concepts?

Time Link to 00:12:29

On the top left and bottom right boards, the instructors keep saying we should just "shove" instead of re-raising to say 3x or 4x. This doesn't really make sense to me because I don't see how we would ever get called by anything but an incredibly strong hand...like say three of a kind or better (which won't happen often)... because we are essentially giving our opponent horrible odds to call. I haven't seen a hand where we've been advised to shove all-in on a pot where we don't have the nuts either, which to me seems to be an obvious telegraph to our opponents "hey i have the nuts, you better fold your top pair/ two pair" . I just don't understand how shoving is providing us with maximum EV