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

Outstanding! This is what I hoped for when I signed up. It's fun to watch you guys play, BUT this format is far far better for learning how to play well. Please keep it up. Take your time, explain in depth what you are thinking, rules of thumb, and what the exceptions might be. The play, why it works, when it works, and when it does not work, what kind of games, and the expected variance. Thanks again!

Great first video. Flow was very good too, everytime I was thinking something it was addressed as the next comment or topic.

Cold 4bets are incredibly profitable at these stakes and its a move not a lot of people use. Hopefully it takes some time before people catch on!

I know this series is about new moves to add in but I would like to see you quickly address the persons stats on every hand for future videos. A quick comment whether theyre meowchow, loose, nitty, whatever just to help get in the mindset of what you were seeing at the table at the time.

Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Thanks for your feedback, guys. Dan and I had a ton of fun making this and the next 7 episodes are gonna be pretty sweet, so good to hear you're liking what you see.

geez wish i could run that good.

jk jk, but seriously guys this rocks - i loved the way you did it of only showing interesting hands and expanding on each hand much more than conventional sweat videos. gave me a ton of things to think about in an area of my game which needed alot of work.

looking forward to future eps.

Sensei & Duck,

Great video. The commentary is phenomenal. I am going to have to watch this one two or three times just to remember everything Duck is saying.

If I may, one suggestion for this format of teaching... I love it, it's a nice change from just sweating someone playing 2-4 tables of a certain limit. But I think you could enhance it even more if when the video is paused or you're summarizing an overall concept to throw up a few PowerPoint type bullets on the screen if the hand has already been played back. Might help to reinforce points for those of us that are more visual learners. Overall though, incredible vid.

Thanks,

/kwantum

Oh shi--, I loved it.

This is the greatest vid ever made concerning 3bet pots.

Thanks guise.

Sensei & Duck,

Great video. The commentary is phenomenal. I am going to have to watch this one two or three times just to remember everything Duck is saying.

If I may, one suggestion for this format of teaching... I love it, it's a nice change from just sweating someone playing 2-4 tables of a certain limit. But I think you could enhance it even more if when the video is paused or you're summarizing an overall concept to throw up a few PowerPoint type bullets on the screen if the hand has already been played back. Might help to reinforce points for those of us that are more visual learners. Overall though, incredible vid.

Thanks,

/kwantum

Yea we could probably drop in some powerpoints during the less-active portions of video when we're just running our mouths (and you'll notice that we have a habit of doing just that, lol). Something to address for the next season, I reckon. I think these will still be the best videos produced on the topic at hand though, even if they require a little bit of patience.

-Dan

Obviously all of the 3-bet scenarios are so helpful as everyone has mentioned, but I'd like to also comment on one segment that Duck talked about that honestly felt like the poker gods just opened the heavens to me.

In the pocket 10's hand you give such a great explanation regarding villain's hand range, villain's perception of your hand range, and where your hand fits in his perceived range. Every MSNL has heard this concept in one form or another, but it's never clicked for me quite like this. Definitely the next area I'm going to be working on (now that I have 3-bet pots covered). Can't wait until next week.

Thanks,
JrJordan

I think these will still be the best videos produced on the topic at hand though, even if they require a little bit of patience.

Agreed, and I will take them in any way, shape, or form you guys end up deciding on. I plan to have my 2nd viewing tonight, I may jot down a few notes. If I do, I'll post them on the forums to summarize so people can have them while watching or reviewing concepts of the video.

Pure awesomeness IMO! I remember watching this kind of videos made by ActionJack (the one from Ladbrokes) 3-4 years ago. He made couple of videos dedicated to specific scenarios like playing pocket pairs, playing suited connectors, bluffing and so on. Now after I joined CR and other coaching sites I wanted to see this kind of videos but no one ever made them. I would love to see more of them. Also I would love to see this kind of videos dedicated to some more basic concepts as well.

Edit: also: love Vanessa's voice!

Probably the best poker video I've ever watched.

First off: Very nice video with excellent commentary.

Some general questions:
Is it possible to show the pa-hud statts in the next video's?
Are there going to be hands in the future vids where you make a correct move but hit the top of someones range or it goes wrong? (It's easy to think that you can now take away every 3bet pot with position if you watch it happen 7 times in a row ).

Some questions about the actual hands:
The 78cc hand (starts 21:35). You saythat you should do it with AA/KK and they'll call with worse hands more often.. but doesn't that mean they'll also call you more often than you want when you (semi)bluff on those boards because they put you on a semibluff? Mostly because you'll be (semi)bluffing more often because it's harder to make hands .
What would be your calling range vs a shove when you are the villain in this spot? If AKo is not in that range would you Cbet AK on that board (again if you were in the villains spot).

the 47dd hand on 38:40
Once he checks to you on the flop you decide to make a very small bet on the flop of less then 1/2 pot. What is your action if you get called and the turn blanks out and he checks to you again, would you double barrel (to push him off a possible AK he did call the flop getting somewhat decent odds).
And if the turn comes like the Ace of hearts or the King of hearts.. would you consider 'double barreling' if checked to? (I can go on about what your river action would be but that would become a little to long ).

I had some more questions but they were mostly about how you would handle the spots you put your opponents in. (for example in the blindbattle where you donk into him with KQ on the Kxx board, what is your default line if someone would do that to you and you're sitting with the AQ in position?)


Anywayz, Great video and looking forward to the next one

This video was really really bad for my game.
Because vanessa is my coach, and i don't want her to tell the good stuff to anyone else.

So yeah obviously it was some really incredible stuff.

It really is unconventional wisdom too.

P.S: I do love this format, where you only focus on the interesting spots and what's the thinking process.

this series is gonna be a big hit. good job both of you. the last hand example is super interesting and i have a feeling i'm going to learn a lot from these vids

got a question though. what do you think are the merits of jamming the AQ on 664 vs floating/playing for implied odds? if you spike a pair, that figures to be a great bluff card for your opponent, and calling doesn't completely forfeit your ability to push AK off the hand later.

First off: Very nice video with excellent commentary.

thanks, glad you enjoyed!

Some general questions:
Is it possible to show the pa-hud statts in the next video's?

unfortunately, this series is already completely made. we're going to work on adding pahud stats into the hand replayer for next season but in the event that we don't, we'll definitely incorporate more info about them at least by telling you what they are, as a quite a few people have expressed interest in that.

Are there going to be hands in the future vids where you make a correct move but hit the top of someones range or it goes wrong? (It's easy to think that you can now take away every 3bet pot with position if you watch it happen 7 times in a row ).

Haha, well hmm. I think there are one or two hands throughout the series that don't work the way we want that we include. We didn't include too many for obvious reasons, but we kept your point in mind. We included some episodes with real time play to give you a better idea of frequencies, just so you didn't think that we were pulling these moves all the time and winning every hand

Some questions about the actual hands:
The 78cc hand (starts 21:35). You saythat you should do it with AA/KK and they'll call with worse hands more often.. but doesn't that mean they'll also call you more often than you want when you (semi)bluff on those boards because they put you on a semibluff? Mostly because you'll be (semi)bluffing more often because it's harder to make hands .

Of course, if/when you do it with AA/KK (and I really should have said QQ/JJ when hand protection is more of an issue, it's going to be an even better play), you should try to pick the spots when you think they have a good hand I mean, I know that sounds cryptic but there are going to be spots where either you "feel" it or certain conditions exist that you think this person is not squeezing light. Then take this board texture and do it with a big hand. You don't have to do it often - it only takes showing down a big hand with this play one or two times to get a ton of folding equity on your semibluff shoves in the future. I work a lot of shoves w/ top pair mediocre kicker in 3bet pots in my game specifically for this reason.

What would be your calling range vs a shove when you are the villain in this spot? If AKo is not in that range would you Cbet AK on that board (again if you were in the villains spot).

Come on, that just depends on who shoves on me and probably what I ate for breakfast that morning.

the 47dd hand on 38:40
Once he checks to you on the flop you decide to make a very small bet on the flop of less then 1/2 pot. What is your action if you get called and the turn blanks out and he checks to you again, would you double barrel (to push him off a possible AK he did call the flop getting somewhat decent odds).
And if the turn comes like the Ace of hearts or the King of hearts.. would you consider 'double barreling' if checked to? (I can go on about what your river action would be but that would become a little to long ).

I don't know if I would double barrel or not and i think the cards you mention are definitely decent double barreling cards against his check/calling range (TT and JJ or like 9T, right?) but I will just say that a check/call of 2/5 pot isn't that strong as a preflop 3bettor, so take from that what you will and make your own inferences.

I had some more questions but they were mostly about how you would handle the spots you put your opponents in. (for example in the blindbattle where you donk into him with KQ on the Kxx board, what is your default line if someone would do that to you and you're sitting with the AQ in position?)

Yeah I mean that's a tough question. I don't have a "default" line per se, but in the past let's just say I haven't loved being led into, but not too many people did it with strong hands. After I make this video, I might have to reconsider people's ranges... but that's not a huge worry, that's the fun of poker, right? Constantly figuring it out and getting better. So I haven't had a default line in the past and I certainly am not going to have one now. Those are the tough questions, but hopefully by thinking about the game enough, you'll have the tools and thought processes to make thoughtful decisions to answer those questions in a way that suits your own game.

Cheers,
Vanessa

this series is gonna be a big hit. good job both of you. the last hand example is super interesting and i have a feeling i'm going to learn a lot from these vids

got a question though. what do you think are the merits of jamming the AQ on 664 vs floating/playing for implied odds? if you spike a pair, that figures to be a great bluff card for your opponent, and calling doesn't completely forfeit your ability to push AK off the hand later.

thanks man, looking forward to checking yours out as well. as for your question - i think calling is definitely a viable option for AQ on a 664 board, it really depends first and foremost on your opponent's double barreling frequencies. I find that a lot of people are double barreling that sort of board a decent amount (since so many people are floating it) that jamming seems a bit more enticing. As for hitting a pair and having it be a great bluff card, that's definitely true, but a) there's only 6 of them so that's not enough of a reason to call and b) with that logic, a ton of cards are good bluff cards so maybe that means we should also be calling down sometimes UI? (and I have called down in these spots with AQ with, well, varying success). All good questions, all good options... I think it's just gotta be based on reads of how villain will respond with each part of his range. With no reads, shoving is just easier and metagame-wise, will make villain think twice about constantly 3-betting light, something that is going to be very positive for your game and ability to use position in the future.

Excellent vid. I'll be watching it multiple times. Can't wait until my next session so that I can spew horribly by misapplying this great info.

I am still learning this game and this format is perfect for me. If you made a series like this on each key concept I would be so thankful.

Paul
Expert_Wanna_B
Transforming from a Donkey to a Donkey Hunter!

I really think it was great but i have some questions aswell.

The first one is the TT hand on AT3 board or whatever. You said that the reason youre taking that line is to stack weaker aces. I mean how often are people 3betting an UTG raiser with weaker aces? Yea youre inducing alot of floats by donking into him, but i don't think he'll float with his entire air range whereas he probably will c-bet this flop with his entire air-range(agree?). The thing about him reraising your weak turnbet with a picked up draw on the turn might aswell go the same way with him double barreling the turn with say a picked up fd on the turn.
When it comes to mediocore hands(such as JJ-KK, or so), i don't think you're going to get 3 streets of value anywasy.

About the KQ hand, this would also be a nice spot to balance your range after shoving air in 3-4spots, right? (cause you would often shove here with AQ, right?).

I really liked the video btw! And you're def. better at poker than i am(without doubt!!). Btw i really like this sort of videos compared to cardrunners, where i spend 40minutes at muddywater folding a3o on the button. Great that you have specific topics for each videos, very nice.

I really think it was great but i have some questions aswell.

The first one is the TT hand on AT3 board or whatever. You said that the reason youre taking that line is to stack weaker aces. I mean how often are people 3betting an UTG raiser with weaker aces? Yea youre inducing alot of floats by donking into him, but i don't think he'll float with his entire air range whereas he probably will c-bet this flop with his entire air-range(agree?). The thing about him reraising your weak turnbet with a picked up draw on the turn might aswell go the same way with him double barreling the turn with say a picked up fd on the turn.
When it comes to mediocore hands(such as JJ-KK, or so), i don't think you're going to get 3 streets of value anywasy.

About the KQ hand, this would also be a nice spot to balance your range after shoving air in 3-4spots, right? (cause you would often shove here with AQ, right?).

Hey Suwalski,

You make some excellent points here about the TT hand. I think the key thing to remember (and we will emphasize this as the series continues, just make sure to stay tuned) is that we are making a series about alternatives to the "standard" lines. Do I take this line with a flopped set in a 3bet pot always? Definitely not. Not even the majority of the time. But taking it sometimes adds deception because it confuses my opponents and it also allows me to take that line with other hands.

A huge reason it's good to have different lines for all different hands is a concept I like to think about like this... in poker, you should have an arsenal of moves. Every time you take a different line with a different hand, it adds that move to your arsenal. The more moves you have in your arsenal (that are known to your opponent), the more options you will have to take the one you think is the best given the situation, and thus the tougher you will be to play against. So while all your points are valid, and both check/call check/call (or another line) is a great line with TT on AT3r, this series is about adding moves that are different, and the one I show in this video is one I love to do some of the time.

Hope that helps.

great stuff from both. way to hammer home the concepts. my poker fog lifted momentarily and i may have actually internalized some of the ideas. the rewind button is key with vanessa as she spews (in a good way) so many ideas so fast. keep it up! gig

Wow!

This is an awesome video... very clear, concise points and extremely in depth.

Definitely going to watch this one a couple more times.

Wow, this is a really amazing video. I dont think i have seen anything close as good concerning 3-bet-pots. What i would really have liked is to see more pots where you were the 3-bettor, although the explanations regarding the KJs hand were already outstanding.

Im really looking forward to your next vids and hope theyll be as good as this one


so long

Sick video and a great format, this is one of the most effective learning tools I've seen so far online aside from coaching. I have a few comments on the video and a few on specific hands.

One thing that you kind of skirted over in your commentary was your table image and how it effects the EV of different kinds of plays in 3bet pots. From the looks of things you guys were playing fast and loose at these tables (59s lol) looking for interesting spots, but that obv effects how frequently you get looked up on your bluffs and how thin you can make your vbets. A little bit of commentary on how meta can and should shape your lines would be the illest.

I agreed with most of the plays you guys made aside from preflop on a bunch of them but whatever that's not what the video was about. One thing that I did notice earlier on in the video which kinda irked me was that on a few of your bluffs you either repped nothing or a pretty narrow range of hands, which is obv gonna get you looked up real light by good handreaders (which are rare at 1/2, granted) The most egregious example of this was the AQs hand where you open/called the button then bluffshoved over the cbet on the K84 or whatever. Given the climate of todays game you're pretty much always 4betting AK there, as well as AA and KK a ton of the time I should think. Also, you're prob gonna be just calling with a set at least some % of the time on the flop (though shoving is a great option just because it looks so bluffy). I mean, I guess you could be shoving KQ looking for thin value, but beyond that it really just looks like you're FOS. That was really my only problem with how the hands were played

Overall sick sick vid, hopefully it will bring out the inner spewtard in all of us. Great job.

Yes of course some of our plays were pretty narrowly aimed, but keep in mind that we made this video with the aspiring 1/2 player in mind. When you're playing against a 5/10 regular, he's probably not folding QQ or JJ to a flop shove on a Kxx board, but I think most 1/2 players will. And of course floating a flop like that is a perfectly acceptable maneuver too (I forget if we have a hand like that in there, i'll have to rewatch it). Floating it might work better against a more advanced player.

The key to all things though, of course, is to be one step ahead of your opponent. If he knows that he should represent a king when theres one on the flop, but can't bring himself to call with worse than top pair when all the money goes in (no matter how much sense the line makes) then shove away!

Also, fwiw, we'll be posting our stats and results from all the hands we played at 1/2 to make the series later (maybe episode 7 or something like that?) so you'll see that while we were playing creatively, we certainly weren't going insane or spewing too much. We considered playing under unknown screen names to prevent anybody from playing differently because they recognized us from higher stakes games or 2+2 or something, but it didn't end up mattering all that much. If anything, the extra respect we gained from some players who recognized us may have balanced out the spite-calls from the others

I really think it was great but i have some questions aswell.

The first one is the TT hand on AT3 board or whatever. You said that the reason youre taking that line is to stack weaker aces. I mean how often are people 3betting an UTG raiser with weaker aces? Yea youre inducing alot of floats by donking into him, but i don't think he'll float with his entire air range whereas he probably will c-bet this flop with his entire air-range(agree?). The thing about him reraising your weak turnbet with a picked up draw on the turn might aswell go the same way with him double barreling the turn with say a picked up fd on the turn.
When it comes to mediocore hands(such as JJ-KK, or so), i don't think you're going to get 3 streets of value anywasy.

About the KQ hand, this would also be a nice spot to balance your range after shoving air in 3-4spots, right? (cause you would often shove here with AQ, right?).

I really liked the video btw! And you're def. better at poker than i am(without doubt!!). Btw i really like this sort of videos compared to cardrunners, where i spend 40minutes at muddywater folding a3o on the button. Great that you have specific topics for each videos, very nice.

Well one of the best parts about leading with TT there is that you give him a chance to float or bluffraise bad hands. Since we have two more streets to get the monies in on, he has a much better chance of taking the bait eventually and putting the rest of his stack in bad.

Basically, nobody ever leads into a reraiser like this very often, so nobody understands how to play against it, and more often than not they'll do something stupid if you choose your spot well.


As for the KQ hand, of course you realize these aren't sequential so we probably hadn't been shoving air a lot before it happened, but sure, KQ is a good hand to balance your bluffshoves with, if you're against somebody on the right level (aka pretty sharp and knows the moves).

what is the music in the beginning of the vid? would like to know

I have to say its one of the best if not the best videos for low limit grinders to learn a few fancy moves. The format for the series is going to be awesome, DJ and FD are a perfect combo IMO.
Really looking forward to the rest of the series, i think its a good idea for to watch this several times and also take some notes for future reference. The stuff in this video is golden for us all.

Ty for taking time to make all the videos guys!

Awesome vid. One question about the KQ blind battle: If the turn goes check/check, are you open-shoving the river? 1/2 pot? checking? Thanks.

excellent vid. loved the format.

Excellent video.

p.s.: Plz stop letting other ppl see this. Let's keep it between us, it'll be our secret.

scuse my french but that video was absolutely fucking awesome
Its obvious to see the effort that was put into this video, and i like to congratulate Dan and Vanessa for what was fantastically executed explanation of a particular subject, looking very much forward to future videos. Anyway i've watched 4 awesome videos back to back, so im off to the Gym for a run cos i'm getting a headache from all this awesome content.

Very impressed with the premier and looking forward to more in the future!

Nice video. I really hate what you guys are doing to the natural order of things I must say though.

The small 4-bet has been amazing for me so far:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $145.25
UTG: $119.80
MP: $136.10
CO: $40.70
Hero (BTN): $97.00
SB: $98.15

Pre Flop: Hero is BTN with A K
3 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 1 fold, BB raises to $12, Hero raises to $29, BB raises to $145.25 all in, Hero calls $68 all in

Flop: ($194.50) T 6 5

Turn: ($194.50) 4

River: ($194.50) 7

Final Pot: $194.50
BB shows As 9s (Ace Ten high)
Hero shows Ac Kh (Ace King high)
Hero wins $191.50
(Rake: $3.00)

I love it when LAGtards spew a whole buyin at you way behind because they think you're pulling a move. <3 <3 <3

Honestly, (and this isn't trying to be rude) but Vanessa is much better at this than DJ Sensei is. I'm not sure quite what it is, but Vanessa seems more natural and better at explaining the reasoning for the plays.

Honestly, (and this isn't trying to be rude) but Vanessa is much better at this than DJ Sensei is. I'm not sure quite what it is, but Vanessa seems more natural and better at explaining the reasoning for the plays.

Very constructive ..

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Both of you are great .. can't wait for another episode =).

Honestly, (and this isn't trying to be rude) but Vanessa is much better at this than DJ Sensei is. I'm not sure quite what it is, but Vanessa seems more natural and better at explaining the reasoning for the plays.

any ideas about how I could improve?

Excellent.

Honestly, (and this isn't trying to be rude) but Vanessa is much better at this than DJ Sensei is. I'm not sure quite what it is, but Vanessa seems more natural and better at explaining the reasoning for the plays.

any ideas about how I could improve?

I'm going to watch episode 2 tonight and I'll let you know after.

Is there a way to send PMs with this software?

nah we dont have PMs yet, but you can send it to me on 2+2

Not sure what TheMetetron is referring to I didn't notice any major difference between the two besides Vanessa being more bubbly and girly, which makes sense to Zed.

About the vid. Sensei already touched on the point that many of the villains here are not very skilled hand readers thus the extra fold equity in some spots a la the AQ shove over the Kxx board but I would just like to reiterate my own experience in getting owned a fair amount in spots such as the delayed-float-river-bluff. Sometimes it works, sometimes you get owned, but developing the feel of when is the appropriate time to do it and when it isn't is the skill we're after imo so discussion should be focused on that. Why are we choosing to make a move at the pot in this specific situation? Overall I think you did a fine job of prefacing that, as well as taking into account the times you got felted with air or close to it and I'm not party pooping imo.

Personally my favorite hand was the TT at the end. It's ez to salivate and instacheck that flop but when you stop and think about it, c/raising lets him potentially get away from a hand like exactly what he had, and c/cing the flop lets him check behind on the turn (or possibly the flop), and you're probably not getting stacks in if that's the case. The big flop bet followed by the smallish turn is actually sinful imo. You're basically torturing his soul. I loved it.

Sensei,

I take it back after watching the second video. I think I might have just been taking the idea that Vanessa just sounds better on video and turned it into something it wasn't. You explained things well enough in the second video. Keep up the good work.

Just signed up for the site and am 20 minutes into this vid and just had to stay that its pretty sick so far. Very good commentary.

In my eyes the second hand ( 4-bet with 33) is bad played. Hero should raise bigger and call the shove.
As played hero has still an easy call and no fold against a shove by the Button and perhaps a close fold against a shove by the Small blind.

Excellent material, I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Vanessa:

Could you comment some more on the 4-bet sizing in the AQc hand at 9:08?

You say that you expect Villain to call your small 4-bet with most of his 3-betting range, given the stack sizes.

This puzzled me at first, but if I understand the plan correctly, we're OK with him calling with a wide range, since we expect him to fold a lot of hands to a flop c-bet. At the same time, we don't expect him to 5-bet light, so 4-betting small saves some money when he has us crushed.

So basically, we're hoping he folds preflop, but if he doesn't fold, his range should be wide enough for us to steal a lot of pots later. We expect this to be more profitable than 4-betting big and letting him off easy. Also, not bloating the pot will give us more flexibility postflop when we flop a top pair.

Is this reasoning valid?

TIA

Great video showcasing some non-standard plays that, when used judiciously have the potential to really pad your winrate. My main suggestion would be to add in some comments about how frequently plays should be made. You mention that the cold 4 bet should be done at most once per session. Some other specific examples of where this kind of commentary would be useful:

(a) You mention checking behind Ax in a reraised pot when an ace flops. How often are you checking behind with this type of hand? If you do it too often, then in polarises your cbetting range into monsters or bluffs and (as you mentioned) since you don't have monsters too often...a thinking villain will check/raise you like crazy...

(b) If you raise with a suited connector on the button and get 3bet from the blinds, how often are you calling the 3bet. I know that this depends a lot on villain, table image, game flow etc but from the video you make it seem like you would always call the bet hoping to outplay the villain postflop. For 100BB stacks, my standard play with a SC is to fold to a 3bet.

(c) Delayed float is an interesting concept. What type of "real" hands would you play in this way? At the moment I can't think of any hands where I check the flop in position, call the turn and then value bet the river.

Looking forward to the rest of the series!!

Just signed up as well, great site, great vid, love the format, congrats on putting out a great product.

I have a few comments about the 95ss hand on the ATT flop. I hesitate to comment on this because you two are much better players than I am, however, I really dislike this hand and I feel that it was put in there because the play worked. In a vacuum, however, I just can't see your line folding out 99 or JJ let alone QQ and KK. That turn card is a horrible card to float on because most people would tend to raise an ace in this spot to get value. If this play is based purely on the fact that he is betting the turn like a puss, then fine, but for the most part, I really think that this one is a bit spewey.


edit: K, I just went back and rewatched the hand paying particular attention to the commentary which makes it a bit better. However, I just can't see an ace legitimately playing passively on the flop and turn given the board.

Great video showcasing some non-standard plays that, when used judiciously have the potential to really pad your winrate. My main suggestion would be to add in some comments about how frequently plays should be made. You mention that the cold 4 bet should be done at most once per session. Some other specific examples of where this kind of commentary would be useful:

(a) You mention checking behind Ax in a reraised pot when an ace flops. How often are you checking behind with this type of hand? If you do it too often, then in polarises your cbetting range into monsters or bluffs and (as you mentioned) since you don't have monsters too often...a thinking villain will check/raise you like crazy...

(b) If you raise with a suited connector on the button and get 3bet from the blinds, how often are you calling the 3bet. I know that this depends a lot on villain, table image, game flow etc but from the video you make it seem like you would always call the bet hoping to outplay the villain postflop. For 100BB stacks, my standard play with a SC is to fold to a 3bet.

(c) Delayed float is an interesting concept. What type of "real" hands would you play in this way? At the moment I can't think of any hands where I check the flop in position, call the turn and then value bet the river.

Looking forward to the rest of the series!!

a) Against somebody who you're playing with for the first time, I think checkbehind should be standard with Ax (KK or QQ are pretty much the same as Ax, too) and bet should be standard with air. Against people who you play against a lot, you should mix it up: bet some Ax's, check back some weaker hands. That principle is probably solid for a lot of specific situational plays, actually.

b) I would say that calling should be standard, actually, and folding should be a mix-up depending on the situation. In today's games, you're just getting 3-bet so much that you can't afford to raise-fold too often, especially with hands like SC's that are among the more favorable hands to have in that spot.

c) Well obviously the point of a delayed float is to represent a decent but not huge hand, because he won't try to bluff you if he knows you're in "bluff-catcher" mode. So, when you take that line, most of the time you should have just that. Maybe a hand like 88 on a 954 board, or Ax on a dry ace-high board.


As for frequency, most all of these plays should certainly not be your standard, but you can use them until you get caught . Like all bluffs, they work better if you don't use them often.

Just saw this first video. I have to say it's very good. Added a lot of ideas to my play. I am still NL50, but by signing up I hope to be in NL200 in 6months.

Thanks a bunch.

On the delayed float with position, what's your move if villian leads out into you on the river or raises your river bet.
Do you generally fold or continue the bluff with some other move?

BTW, Great video!

I just signed up for DC today, but have been a member of CardRunners since their first week of business... If the video quality of the rest of your videos is as good as this one during my 7 day trial, you have won my business =). Excellent video... Hopefully this kinda stuff gets me back on track... about 5 years of poker without a big down swing come full front over the last 4 months. Maybe these are the things I needed =)

On the delayed float with position, what's your move if villian leads out into you on the river or raises your river bet.
Do you generally fold or continue the bluff with some other move?

BTW, Great video!

The main reasoning behind the delayed float is that once the villain checks to us twice he doesn't have much of anything, and as a result we can bet him off of it. If he fires one of those two streets we'll generally be giving up, though of course if we sense some sort of weakness in that bet theres always the possibility of making a second move (usually a shove)

We are professionally trained spewtards

Just signed up yesterday, but I already know I'm going to like you guys.

Hey Professors,

Great video. I'm not even all the way through it and I wanted to post a comment and a question. First, I'm going to +1 the request for your intro music.

Second, I really agree with Xanta that the AQdd on the Kh8s5h board seems highly spewy. I understand the squeeze aspect of your read and how that impacts his hand range but he still has nearly half his stack in and he's getting 2.5:1 on a call and unless my math is off you need him to fold over 50% of the time (assuming 0 equity when called). This, combined with the fact that your line makes very little sense (as Xanta pointed out) just made me stop the video right there to see if anyone else had commented on it.

While the texture is fairly dry you have to know that you are getting called by hearts and 76 and probably 98, 87, 65, 54 with one heart as well with the pot laying such a price as well as AK, KQ, KJ, sets, 85, etc.

In any case I know you are both on the Whiz end of the math spectrum so it would be helpful to those of us who have to work this stuff out with slide rules and punch cards if you could point out "in this case we are going to shove, which means we think he is going to fold more than 55% of the time" which is a judgment we mere mortals might have a better chance of making within the flow of the game.

Finally, I love the site and what I've seen from this video so far. I signed up because I heard Vanessa on pokerroad or 2+2 radio (one of those streamed poker shows) and I had the pleasure of seeing her in action once in Atlantic City and I'm very happy that I did. I'm looking forward to more great content.

Shawn

Shawn,

If you consider that the majority of players will fold everything worse than a pair of kings here (though I guess they'll call with draws too which is OK with me) I think that we're going to fold out way more than 55% of his range, or whatever the appropriate amount is for our purposes. As you get into higher-stakes games, people will start to call with QQ or JJ or sometimes less when you shove here, which can make things more complicated, but in a 1/2 game I don't expect people to do that.

Shawn,

If you consider that the majority of players will fold everything worse than a pair of kings here (though I guess they'll call with draws too which is OK with me) I think that we're going to fold out way more than 55% of his range, or whatever the appropriate amount is for our purposes. As you get into higher-stakes games, people will start to call with QQ or JJ or sometimes less when you shove here, which can make things more complicated, but in a 1/2 game I don't expect people to do that.

Hey, Congrats on going deep at the 101. I'm hooked on pokerstove like a fiend so in these spots I want to have some idea of his squeezing range and then check to see if he's going to fold 55% of those hands (all this is after the fact of course). The 55% number comes from us risking $178 to win $143 so by my math for the play to be breakeven we need -$178 *(1-p) = $143 *p so p (the probability our move wins us the $143 without a fight) must be 0.55. Maybe you can confirm this (or laugh at my nitty mathness). So what kind of range of hands do you give the BB there?

A brief aside, does the doublestacked limp from EP influence the range you give to the BB? Obviously most of the time a limp is just a limp, but does the fact that he is not just squeezing the SB have any significance for you?

Thanks,

Shawn

I am admittedly not a heavy pokerstove user (though I'd probably benefit from using it). Most of my estimations about ranges come from years of experience and the developed intuition that i've grown to depend on. There are some difficulties with composing a range for him here which are due in no small part to lack of previous data and the fact that his range can have hands which may be 3-bet 20% or 50% or something other than 0 or 100%. But if we give him AA-99, AK-AJ, I think we're already there. Throw in some SC's or weaker aces or other stuff and we sweeten the deal. Take away those things and we maybe aren't in such good shape.

This is good stuff. But I don't want to let the whole intro music question fall between the cracks.

Maybe the reason the hand bothered me is the lack of context. With 99+ and AJ+ and the BB playing fit or fold the move seems very +EV (although it would be very interesting to calculate how often the flop will fit that range, monte carlo simulator anyone?), if you throw in KQ and KJ and/or your BB is ready to make a stand it becomes super-marginal, so I guess it depends pretty heavily on both your read on your opponent and your own image.

I tend to bomb away too much which would make your play chip suicide for me. I'd almost rather be out of position there and be first to fire (ala gus hansen). If I'm opening AQs there from the button and I get 3bet I'm gonna push or fold based on how fast I've been playing and how often I'm getting played back at.

Anyway, about that opening music...

Hey I LOVE the intro music & I"m a pro musician so let's leave that as is. Now on a serious note....GREAT videos!!! I've seen the first 2 & just saw the premiere again & taking even more notes.
Can either one of you give a quick explanation on what a float is in WRITING? I mean I understand the concept (I think/hope!) but I want to have it in writing in my notes.
Thanks. To me this series just with the first 2 vids is already worth the price of admission. Heck I think it's worth a car payment honestly. How can you put a price on that?
As for the deliver I think DJ is great but the thing is , speaking as a music teacher myself, Vanessa has the gift of teaching. Very difficult to explain that & even harder to teach that. Just keep being yourself DJ! GREAT job both of you!

Anyway, about that opening music...

I wish I knew. It was some royalty free (uncredited) stuff that came with some software packages.

Rob

Can either one of you give a quick explanation on what a float is in WRITING? I mean I understand the concept (I think/hope!) but I want to have it in writing in my notes.

A "float" is when you call a bet with a marginal hand, intending to often take the pot away on later streets if your opponent shows weakness. The most common situation where floats happen is in position on the flop, facing a continuation bet from the preflop raiser. If you think that he will give up with his weak hands once you call, then you can float and bet on a later street to win the pot.

You can float with a hand that has a decent amount of equity/outs (like 2 overcards and a gutshot), you can float with a hand that may well be good but doesn't want a big pot (like second pair) or you can float with total air. The less equity you have, the more confident you should be about your chances of taking the pot away before deciding to do so. Floating typically works much better in position, but it can occasionally work from out of position as well. Float out of position with caution!

Thanks for that Dan. I was right about what it was but I do NOT want to assume anything at this early stage of the game. Liked the way you phrased that I even wrote it down verbatim in my notes. :-)

great video, I just played and completely misapplied all of the information. lol...guess Ill watch it again now.

great video, I just played and completely misapplied all of the information. lol...guess Ill watch it again now.

If you spend some solid time thinking about

1) why a play works
2) when the best time to use it is (and against what type of opponents!)

then you'll do much better with fancy moves.

Probably the best poker video I've ever watched.

SO TRUE! and like i read before vanessas voice is awsome

Overall great video. Concepts were both explained and demonstrated thoroughly.

I had one question in regard to the floating concept (and I'm going to manipulate the actual hand to illustrate):

This is the first hand that Vanessa used to discuss double floating.
Vanessa had Ad10d on the button, and raised it. She was 3-bet by the big blind sabsters, and she called.

Flop came: 6d3c9s

sabsters bet $22.
Vanessa called

Turn: 4s.

Both check

Now, here is my question: in the actual hand, the river was the Jh. Fairly innocuous card. But what if the river had been something like the Ac...or a spade, some much more dangerous card. What would you do if sabsters then bet into you? Assume that he has something like a better Ace or he hit a flush and then you would fold? What if he didn't bet into you? Would you still try to bet or would you simply check behind?

I realize that this is a question largely dependent upon your opponent and your reads of them, but it seems to me that even in the lower stakes (I play mostly NL50) that people loove to bluff aces and flushes...

The second hand (cold 4bet with 33) would be a call if either the Bu or SB shoved. Hero needs 25% if the BU shoves and 34% if SB shoves. Vs a tight range (AK/QQ+) we have 34.6% equity.

This was really one of the best vids I've ever seen - great job!

Great vid...never saw this series...I'll be watching all episodes B4 daybreak....thanks!
But why do I keep reading "Dyslectic Fuck"? I guess it's just me....;-)

But why do I keep reading "Dyslectic Fuck"? I guess it's just me....;-)

I think thats the point

By far the best video i ever watch.

I do have a comment about this 3-betting video tho. There are no spots where we call a 3-bet OOP with a decent/ marginal hand and didnt flop anything. Both the time we were OOP we hit TPQK and a set.

What would be your line be if the flops comes like AK2 when u have KQ or TT?

TQ

By far the best video i ever watch.

I do have a comment about this 3-betting video tho. There are no spots where we call a 3-bet OOP with a decent/ marginal hand and didnt flop anything. Both the time we were OOP we hit TPQK and a set.

What would be your line be if the flops comes like AK2 when u have KQ or TT?

TQ

Well, first of all, I don't really like flatcalling 3bets oop that much without a good reason (like deep stacks and/or a weak opponent). But anyhow, to answer your question: if your opponents range is weighted towards hands with an ace in them and big pairs (and I think most people's 3bet ranges are), then you can easily c/f this flop with TT, and probably KQ too. Your opponent is likely to bet with his big hands (and his weak ones, if his range has any) and check back if he's got something like QQ or JJ.

Excellent video, with some great "Unconventional Wisdom". Looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

great video. This will be a fun series.

great video. This will be a fun series.

its true

I love ducks's stuff...this is a great stuff. I appreciate learning new stuff in Holdem. Duck is a creative player who can express herself well.

Good job ... can you lose some time plz , put some suprise

Time Link to 00:51:10

good way of explaining the thinking process a player should use during the hand

So very helpful!

Nice.

Time Link to 00:05:56

DJ, say he x/c the turn here. What range are you putting him on and what rivers are you firing besides the obvious?

Time Link to 00:19:11

You say that he will have to fold AK in this spot when you shove with AQ.

Why would he fold AK here? As far as I can figure out he only needs to be good 33 percent of the time when he calls given his large continue cbet.

His AK will be good against most of your perceived range which is pairs from 22 - TT 25 percent of the time. Then add in some bluffs to your range and some draws and he is good to go.

He could easily be holding a strong diamond as well giving him a few extra percent of equity.

I for one wouldn't fold any AK here after betting this big. The bigger bet the more tempted you will be to shove with marginal holdings. I wouldn't ever cbet this big as a standard though.

Time Link to 00:15:57

I like the move in this clip. However I think there's a flaw in the analysis.

You state that he would fold any pair under a King. Given our perceived range - why would he fold TT for example.

It is just so highly unlikely that we will push a king here. Why would we want to do this? Unless there is no dynamic the standard play would be to call in todays aggressive games. Hoping that he barrels again on the turn. I think a shove is more likely to represent a FD or maybe a seldom fast played set.

I don't mind the play though. It's just aimed for his air and not for his medium pars. Or am I wrong?

You say that he will have to fold AK in this spot when you shove with AQ.

Why would he fold AK here? As far as I can figure out he only needs to be good 33 percent of the time when he calls given his large continue cbet.

His AK will be good against most of your perceived range which is pairs from 22 - TT 25 percent of the time. Then add in some bluffs to your range and some draws and he is good to go.

He could easily be holding a strong diamond as well giving him a few extra percent of equity.

I for one wouldn't fold any AK here after betting this big. The bigger bet the more tempted you will be to shove with marginal holdings. I wouldn't ever cbet this big as a standard though.

I'm pretty far removed from these games, and of course this series was made 4 years ago (gasp!) so I'm sure things have changed. If bet-calling AK in his shoes is standard these days, thats news to me.

I will say that my PLO experience has forced me to focus on avoiding situations where we're committed to call off our stack with underdog equity (but a correct price). This seems like one of those for the villain, as you describe it. So betting out with AK might not be the right play in the first place!

I like the move in this clip. However I think there's a flaw in the analysis.

You state that he would fold any pair under a King. Given our perceived range - why would he fold TT for example.

It is just so highly unlikely that we will push a king here. Why would we want to do this? Unless there is no dynamic the standard play would be to call in todays aggressive games. Hoping that he barrels again on the turn. I think a shove is more likely to represent a FD or maybe a seldom fast played set.

I don't mind the play though. It's just aimed for his air and not for his medium pars. Or am I wrong?

Fair enough. A default calling range probably includes mostly made hands (basically any pair) and a raising range would mostly be semibluffs. But that opens us up to some pretty serious leveling games, where you might want to push a pair of kings to try and get looked up light, or float with air/weak draws to try and take it away when he gives up on later streets. Again, I haven't played these games in a long time, but I would expect most villains to have a hard time calling us here with less than a big pair unless they knew more about our aggressive tendencies. So if his 3betting range is wide enough, we should profit by shoving a pretty decent array of hands.

Thank you for replying. I did notice the publish date - but first after commenting. Thats really nice of you to take your time so many years afterwards.

I am sure it was a great vid - as all the others posted - but yeah its outdated.

The squeeze play from the BB is an example. No one 4 bets this large anymore. The same goes with the AK hand - almost everybody bets 1/2 pot - and then fold.

For some reason it was just top of the midstakes forum. Thats why I entered.