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Poker Video: No Limit Hold'Em by sthief09 (Micro/Small Stakes)

Nice, was waiting for this

This is by far my favorite format for DC videos. Not that everything else is not awesome, but these are just so good at pulling together all the concepts into a single process and makes it much easier for me to integrate things into my game.

Nice Josh. I like all of your work and you are definitely a model in terms of explaining thought processes and lectures (even in live play). I'm very eager to see how your post-flop analysis comes along.

As far as your comment about not wanting the video to be too long... I wouldn't worry about that. I'm pretty sure I could handle a 3 hour lecture from you.

I'm eager to see how the post-flop elements are laid out. One key thing I think that will make a big impact is for you to provide insight into each situation you evaluate on how you might play it in postion and out of position.

Another concept I hope you tackle is bluffing and how to determine if your opponent is capable of laying down hands, and perhaps a breakdown of consideration when attempting a bluff (good board textures). Finally, would be bet sizing... often a shove seems overkill (but effective...). But how effective is it really? Is double pot sufficient? Then finally, bluffing at various stakes (micros say 2nl-10nl, 25nl-100nl). At what limits are some bluffs more effective than others? Against which opponent types?

Continuation betting of course... (with and without hands).

Another concept is exploitation: Take various opponent types and provide insight into the things you do to exploit them. How you yourself become exploitable in order to maximize your EV against a specific opponent type. In NLHETAP, there is a chapter about swapping mistakes... it would be interesting to incorporate this into this section.

Getting played back at and tilt control. I'm not sure about others, but often when regs start playing back frequently, there is a tendency for me to get into a pissing match. I'd rather adjust correctly (we'll assume I'm not leaving because I have a target to my right), but I'm not always sure about how to adjust.

One big key (which I believe you'll be talking about anyway), is also just the learning how to learn. You touched on a few things, but more in depth I think is warranted. When you do a hand history review... what exactly do you do? When you are doing away from the table stuff, what kind of stuff is that? When you watch a video, what things do you do to help you absorb the material better? When you post in forums, read forums... what types of things do you do? Do you fire up tables of other players and watch their play? Etc.

Creating new lines, adjustments on your own: Someone somewhere created some of the neat lines we use... someone someday said, "Hey... that guy raises a lot and the guy inbetween never shows up with a big hand... gee I bet if I raise it up big I'll take down the pot.", and hence the squeeze was invented. Do you use/have/think about a framework for creating new lines finding new ways to exploit situations etc? How?

Whew. This got long.

One for the bookmarks I believe. A hell of a lot of stuff in it, probably too much for me.

Hey there is a thing, bookmark the webpage and label it "josh - starting hands". So if you ever need a refresher you can find it in here.

Hi Josh, very nice series. Just got a short question.
With how many buyins would you recommend going up from NL 50 to 100 .
And do I need more buyins when going up to NL 200 or higher?

Josh is the MAN!

Keep the quality content rolling!! Makes me wish every day was monday...

And another question belonging to this episode:
When is 3betting light, i mean at which percentage? I use PT3 and often notice players 3betting-percantage either at 5/6 % or 10-12 %. Im just not sure about the 5 % 3 betting. Is that light or tight?

Should I make the same 3bet size(or make it 4x?) when someone called the initial raise?

Hey Josh. I just wanted to say great job! Your thorough explanations very much facilitate the learning process and also make your videos enjoyable and easy to follow.

Thanks for the effort and keep up the great work.

F

Should I make the same 3bet size(or make it 4x?) when someone called the initial raise?

in this case, usually just pot it. maybe slightly less in position, maybe slightly more out of position. generally, IP you raise <pot, OOP your raise >pot.

Hi Josh, very nice series. Just got a short question.
With how many buyins would you recommend going up from NL 50 to 100 .
And do I need more buyins when going up to NL 200 or higher?

I talked about this in I think the 2nd ep, but bankroll and your winrate are both factors in determining bankroll requirements. if you go to NL100 and you're a loser, then you're going to need a big bankroll to cover you until you can become a winner. if you move up and are already able to beat the games, then you don't need as big a bankroll. if you can crush a game, 30buyins is sufficient. for most people, it's best to have >50 buyins for the new limit before you move up. if you want to move up but don't have 50 buyins, you can take a shot where you tell yourself if you lose x buyins, you'll move back down immediately. this can be a good idea if you have good self-control and are able to move back down after an unsuccessful shot.

And another question belonging to this episode:
When is 3betting light, i mean at which percentage? I use PT3 and often notice players 3betting-percantage either at 5/6 % or 10-12 %. Im just not sure about the 5 % 3 betting. Is that light or tight?

5-6% is typical for a TAG. a range of AA-JJ, AK-AQ is about 4%. throw in AJ and KQ and that's 7% already. most people will sometimes not 3-bet the AJ/KQ and 3-bet other trashier hands instead, but the point is that a range of 5-6% 3-bets doesn't include many weak hands. when you see someone at 8%+, you can expect him to 3-bet with weaker hands as well, especially if he's on the button, facing a steal, or squeezing.

Nice Josh. I like all of your work and you are definitely a model in terms of explaining thought processes and lectures (even in live play). I'm very eager to see how your post-flop analysis comes along...

I've read this post a few times now, but I just want you to know that your ideas will be incorporated into future videos.

lol @ 38:00

Very nice vide

Time Link to 00:57:31

You say "it's not a huge sample" to give a reason why 33 beats 88 in your stats, but 400k hands is a pretty large sample size, even in 6 handed NLHE. Isn't it possible that you're overplaying your pocket eights, whereas when you don't hit a set with 33, you usually simply fold? I'd find that much more reasonable, but please share your opinion.

You say "it's not a huge sample" to give a reason why 33 beats 88 in your stats, but 400k hands is a pretty large sample size, even in 6 handed NLHE. Isn't it possible that you're overplaying your pocket eights, whereas when you don't hit a set with 33, you usually simply fold? I'd find that much more reasonable, but please share your opinion.

Man, I misread it, probably should've put my glasses on
Now I see you've won more with 88 than with 33, my fault.

pretty good series, well deserved contest win

Great video, so much info.

Time Link to 00:30:49

here you mention things to consider when facing a raiser, such as: "who else is in the pot? is it just the pfr? is there a limper before the pfr? were there 2 or more limpers before the pfr? was there a cold caller after the pfr? 2 cc's after the pfr? combination of the above?"

what should the hero do in EACH of these situations ?

someone please explain

here you mention things to consider when facing a raiser, such as: "who else is in the pot? is it just the pfr? is there a limper before the pfr? were there 2 or more limpers before the pfr? was there a cold caller after the pfr? 2 cc's after the pfr? combination of the above?"

what should the hero do in EACH of these situations ?

someone please explain

Well the key is to think about how everyone's range changes and you can make your decision based on that. If a fish limps and a TAG raises, you're against 2 loose ranges. As a result you can play more hands, and 3-bet bluff more. If UTG raises, and a nit calls UTG+1, you're against 2 tight ranges. Here, you shouldn't 3-bet bluff, and you should only call with hands that play well against strong hands. Hands like pocket pairs and Axs have the potential to take someone's stack, while KJo is a big equity underdog and is more likely to lose a medium or big pot than win a big one. If UTG raises and 2 players call and you're on the button, calling will leave you at least 4 ways to the flop. Again, something like Axs will go up in value since you can make the nuts while someone makes something slightly worse. So think about these different situations, what everyone's range looks like, the possible flop actions, and you can decide what types of hands are better or worse, and which hands are better to fold, call, 3-bet. Preflop decisions are not black and white and you have to just make the most of the information you have.

thanks.
i'm a limidonk who folds or 3bets most everything (probably a leak).
i'm not used to cold calling at all.

I'm a little late to this party, but just wanted to say...great series.

I've been playing poker seriously since 1996 (detailed in my blog and I am working to revamp my entire game. I decided to start with Haj School followed by this series.

I was a member of DC three years ago, but somehow didn't make it to this episode of this series. I think I saw the first two or three episodes and decided they were too basic.

The detailed breakdown of preflop ranges and what to do with each type of hand will help me tremendously. I am a bit too much of a nit and this gives me a great foundation to open up my game.

All future videos I watch regarding preflop will build upon and shape this foundation.

My postflop game is what really needs work...I hope those episodes are half as good as this one! (Yes, I realize postflop is too complicated to cover in a formulaic manner like you did with preflop.)

Question regarding 3-Betting preflop in microstakes: Against other regs, what mix of light 3-betting do you recommend, and what are the best hands to do this with? Pretty much exclusely with those hands that are "not quite good enough to call"? How often do you throw in smaller suited connectors? I know "regs" vary significantly in their playing styles and aggressiveness, but can you give a brief outline (with the understanding that situations are fluid)?

ThanX for your time and effort!

To Make my 3-Betting question simpler...What would your 3B strategy be against someone playing your preflop recommendations? I know it depends on postflop play as well, but what's a good baseline?

ThanX again!

To Make my 3-Betting question simpler...What would your 3B strategy be against someone playing your preflop recommendations? I know it depends on postflop play as well, but what's a good baseline?

ThanX again!

Going to respond to this one because you modified the one above with this one.

this is a tough one to answer. it's nice to have stat-based reads when it comes to this stuff, even if it's only 100 hands. it's all about opening range, fold to 3-bet, and 4-bet. a lot of times you don't know this stuff, but you can also learn through empirical evidence when 3-betting (ie start off bluffing vs. his LP open and see how he responds). you can start to make generalities like...

- if he 4-bets a lot, then you don't want to 3-bet much AJ or KQ because presumably he doesn't 4-bet enough to 5-bet. IF you 3-bet TT, 99, even 88 or 77, and to a lesser extent JJ you must either be confident he seldom 4-bet bluffs, or you must be willing to 5-bet against someone who routinely 4-bet bluffs. sometimes it's better to flat these hands if you're not sure how to proceed when 4-bet.
- if he calls a lot of 3-bets, then take advantage by 3-betting hands with strong high card value. ATo, KJo, KTs and not as much 76s or K5s. top pair is gold against people who call too many 3-bets because they will presumably try to float or bluffraise.
- if he folds to too many 3-bets (65%+), then 3-bet like a monkey. if he's a mass tabler, which these types often are, it can even make sense to flat your premiums vs. these types and just 3-bet trash.

some conventional wisdom is to 3-bet the best hand you'd otherwise fold. If CO opens and you are in the SB with A9s or 98s and you don't think you can call profitably, you can turn them into a 3-bet.

in practice these are the best spots to 3-bet, in no order:
- BB vs. BTN
- SB vs. BTN
- BB vs. SB
- BB vs. CO
- SB vs. CO
- BTN vs. CO

squeezing: best spot to squeeze is loose opener and having position on a fish. in general, it's nice to squeeze with position on at least one player. having an Ax hand is nice because you have a blocker. the nice thing about squeezing is the risk/reward ratio is more in your favor.

so mostly you want to be 3-betting steals from CO, BTN, and SB and usually that means 3-betting from the blinds. you can definitely occasionally raise earlier opens but I usually want a read to do so.


btw I think 29% CO is too wide these days. people 3-bet more and are more comfortable flatting on the button with weak hands. if I saw someone opening 29% from the CO I would 3-bet him pretty relentlessly.