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

Time Link to 00:27:11

Do you usually flat low PPs here in the blinds vs. a TAG otb with a wide stealing range? You rarely have enough implied odds to setmine profitably and villain seems to be competent so your postflop edge may be diminished. Or did you only flat here because you've been 3betting him quite a bit the past few hands?

Time Link to 00:50:56

If you think he's 4betting light a lot of the time here @ table 1 (i.e. polarized), why didn't you want to flat the 4bet IP to maybe get additional value off his junk that will throw out a cbet?

^ nvm my 2nd question, you addressed it at the end haha.

Solid video, really enjoyed watching it!

Do you usually flat low PPs here in the blinds vs. a TAG otb with a wide stealing range? You rarely have enough implied odds to setmine profitably and villain seems to be competent so your postflop edge may be diminished. Or did you only flat here because you've been 3betting him quite a bit the past few hands?

Yeah, but I'm not necessarily setmining. I can play them for pair value too. If he's cbet/give up then I can play them for pair value easily. If he barrels a lot then I can setmine with implied odds against his air. If you've been 3betting a lot that's actually a reason to 3b the small pairs as your flatting range is a bit too face up (you'd never flat AJ for example if your image is really aggro as you can easily 3b it for value) + he might 4b bluff which you can then shove over.

On the very last hand, when villain 4bet bluffs when you have KK.
You go over why calling is better at the end...which i 100% agree with.

What are you doing if the flop comes A high rainbow and he cbets?

If he is going to 4bet bluff, do you think there are a lot of Ax is his bluffing range? Or do you think he is 4betting for the sake of doing it? As you were running him over towards the end.

Thanks, Mike.

I'll call as he'll also cbet all his air there, and most people don't 3barrel allin with bluffed aces on Axx but they tend to check for pot control at some point instead, so I'd probably just call him down.

Can you play some sessions at Pokerstars Grindcore please?

Time Link to 00:02:59

Top left
The board is super dry and we can get probably one street of value. Don't you think that checking back might be better to let him catch something?

Time Link to 00:03:01

I definetely like your turnplay with this shown 73o-hand.
But what would be your plan on the river, should the fishy Villain call only?
Bomb it on any Non-spaded River unless maybe a Q (J?) to make something like Qx (Jx) with a FD to fold, which would be imo imo a huge part of his weak B/Call-range on the turn? - maybe even slightly overbet?

5*

epic intro

Time Link to 00:01:31

So if we slowplay 44 here on the top left, what would be your plan on a blank turn?
do we call again or do we raise the turn now?

what about a K, Q or A on the turn and he bets into us?

Time Link to 00:03:24

you are saying you want to play super loose, why don't you play A6o on the button first in?
isn't that a super standard open?

Can you play some sessions at Pokerstars Grindcore please?

why

Can you play some sessions at Pokerstars Grindcore please?

I played almost exclusively on FTP for a couple years, took a break from poker, came back and played there for a couple months and decided to give Stars another shot recently. Based on the ~15k hands I've played there so far I'd say they're are a bit fewer fish but the regulars generally easier to relentlessly exploit. In short Grindcore's videos are perfect for you. Don't worry about what software he is using.

Grindcore, is 4 tabling your standard? You make and act on some great reads.

Time Link to 00:26:19

Hey Grindcore, really like your videos, always full of great information and advice that helps improve my game. On the top right table with the OESD straight draw, what's your plan on the turn if he calls you? Are we barreling here on flush cards and bricks alike? Thanks

Time Link to 00:25:21

On the top right table are you shoving with the JJ if villain 4bets you?

At around 27:45 you called an utg (2 sit outs so essentially CO) raise in SB w AKo on the top right table.

You check/call down QT9 A and check with the intention of CRAI J.

I think you will be missing a ton of value against the typical 50nl player since I think hes range consist heavily of 2 pair combos, sets and FD w a pair and 50nl players will almost always check back the river with all the 2 pair combos, Fd + 1 pair (they will check the river hoping that their 1pair is good although it almost never is imo) and almost always sets given the way the board ran out. Ppl at 50nl is just not very good at valuebetting river and if the choise is between thin valuebet and potcontrol they will almost always go for the potcontrol.

So I think donkbetting is a lot better.

great video again, but it would be great to see you play against better regs and I'd also like a video review instead of live play.
there are so many interesting hands you don't really comment on enough imo, or you just play them while taking notes and don't say anything about it.
and it would be nice to get deeper into your thought process, which is not possible while live play.

00:31:02 on 01/25/11:
table one, PokerStud_01 didnt doubel barrel, he called rodtonoius on turn, so his range for the riverbet might still be the same. But arent you afraid of rodtonious might be overcalling here with better hands? and what about QJ?

00:31:02 on 01/25/11:
table one, PokerStud_01 didnt doubel barrel, he called rodtonoius on turn, so his range for the riverbet might still be the same. But arent you afraid of rodtonious might be overcalling here with better hands? and what about QJ?

Edit: Should have watched the video till the end before posting.

Time Link to 00:35:13

What would you be your play if he called your c/r on TOP LEFT?

Time Link to 00:20:58

Though this looks for me like a spot where you should in general keep your range wide and to get Value from hands like TT-KK.
B/c you would cbet here usually your entire airrange, you keep your range here obv. wide by betting -> I just think that you will get here much easier 1 street of value from 2ndpairs than later in the hand after checked back such a flop.

Top left
The board is super dry and we can get probably one street of value. Don't you think that checking back might be better to let him catch something?

Depends. The less protection your hand needs the better that usually becomes, but it might also become more obvious what you have on boards where hands don't need much protection. If you want to go for 3 streets it's also important that you can represent bluffs, and that villain is not check-calling stronger hands to let you both bluff and valuebet worse. It should also depend a lot on if villain can take the bet check bet line as a bluff. There is no standard way to always play in these spots, as these spots are all unique. Yet the vast majority of regs do the same thing every time.

At microstakes I expect regs to be more straight forward so when he checks it's more likely that I'm good and also less likely that he'll b/x/b as a bluff. They'll also be more likely to pay 3 streets with a hand like QJ than at higher stakes. So I went for it. But I think it's pretty close. If you check to let him catch up, also think of hands that he could make. On this board the most likely hands that will put in more money on the river are Ax hitting, AJ/AT hitting their kicker, sets spiking or straights. JJ TT probably c/c river too, but they might c/c turn anyawy. I think folding out his air is better than letting him catch something with air but it's pretty close. And it's a pretty good guideline for microstakes to always go for value if a spot is close because of the spazz factor.

Can you play some sessions at Pokerstars Grindcore please?

Why? The only difference in how it plays is the absence of the pot button.

I definetely like your turnplay with this shown 73o-hand.
But what would be your plan on the river, should the fishy Villain call only?
Bomb it on any Non-spaded River unless maybe a Q (J?) to make something like Qx (Jx) with a FD to fold, which would be imo imo a huge part of his weak B/Call-range on the turn? - maybe even slightly overbet?

Hmm... I'll probably give up when draws hit and slight overbet on bricks. Maybe even bet very close to full pot. Weak bets calling a raise usually means they're scared they're beat, so any sizeable riverbet will take it down, but there's always a risk that he's betting small because he's afraid you fold or something as fish are unpredictable, so if you have a reasonable option that doesn't risk as much money it might be better.

So if we slowplay 44 here on the top left, what would be your plan on a blank turn?
do we call again or do we raise the turn now?

what about a K, Q or A on the turn and he bets into us?

Usually call again so he can fire the 3rd too, and flat river too as it's hard to get called by worse. TT and JJ get closer depending on the board.

you are saying you want to play super loose, why don't you play A6o on the button first in?
isn't that a super standard open?

Obviously that was just me being distracted

Grindcore, is 4 tabling your standard? You make and act on some great reads.

You should not play over 4 tables if your current goal in poker is to improve and move up. If your goal is making money, improving and moving up has a higher EV long term, so if you're trying to earn some cash for your holiday next month go ahead and grind the way your hourly is highest, but usually it's most +EV to have improving as goal and thus you should not play more than 4 tables. 95% of players ignores this advice and 95% of players ends up being the stereotype close to break even rakeback grinding tagfishes that my entire style evolved around

Hey Grindcore, really like your videos, always full of great information and advice that helps improve my game. On the top right table with the OESD straight draw, what's your plan on the turn if he calls you? Are we barreling here on flush cards and bricks alike? Thanks

Check back. He clearly has something and probably won't fold turn. Donkbets tend to not be 2nd pair type hands. If I had a read that he donk's draws (something that might fold turn that donks flops), I wouldn't be raising flop in the first place.

On the top right table are you shoving with the JJ if villain 4bets you?

Obviously. I had been super aggressive against him. Unless you were thinking of flatting the 4b instead of folding to it... JJ is too vulnerable to flat, though I might flat AA or KK. But he could be 4b-calling with AQ 88 etc and by flatting vs those I'll often end up not stacking them so shoving is still very good.

At around 27:45 you called an utg (2 sit outs so essentially CO) raise in SB w AKo on the top right table.

You check/call down QT9 A and check with the intention of CRAI J.

I think you will be missing a ton of value against the typical 50nl player since I think hes range consist heavily of 2 pair combos, sets and FD w a pair and 50nl players will almost always check back the river with all the 2 pair combos, Fd + 1 pair (they will check the river hoping that their 1pair is good although it almost never is imo) and almost always sets given the way the board ran out. Ppl at 50nl is just not very good at valuebetting river and if the choise is between thin valuebet and potcontrol they will almost always go for the potcontrol.

So I think donkbetting is a lot better.

I should have 3b preflop, but I was talking about the 66 hand on the top left and probably thought villain was UTG when only glancing at the table.

The reason I went for the river c/r was that I put air in his turn range that might bluff at this card. But honestly, that was very optimistic. Looking at the hand again I think turn is a c/f and it's not even that close. He might not even be playing hands like 75s, and even if he is my equity still sucks. On the river I agree leading like 25% pot is best. I didn't donk as it's too obvious what I have if I make a normal bet + I just called the turn with as only reason that he had air in his range, so then checking to let him bluff is clearly better, but that was a bit sloppy thinking.

You should not play over 4 tables if your current goal in poker is to improve and move up. If your goal is making money, improving and moving up has a higher EV long term, so if you're trying to earn some cash for your holiday next month go ahead and grind the way your hourly is highest, but usually it's most +EV to have improving as goal and thus you should not play more than 4 tables. 95% of players ignores this advice and 95% of players ends up being the stereotype close to break even rakeback grinding tagfishes that my entire style evolved around

Interesting. I play 6, maybe I am becoming a rakeback grinding tag fish but I am studying hard enough.

My idea is that some extra rakeback + some extra expierence during play time is a good thing. There might not be that much a difference between 4 and 6 tables but to me 4 tables are kind of slow, a little bit too slow

In the end, you didn't answer the question . Do you play 4 tables yourself or do you play more?

great video again, but it would be great to see you play against better regs and I'd also like a video review instead of live play.
there are so many interesting hands you don't really comment on enough imo, or you just play them while taking notes and don't say anything about it.
and it would be nice to get deeper into your thought process, which is not possible while live play.

This series will go from NL50 to NL400. I can't help it that the regs at NL50 aren't better just be patient for the rest of the series if you want to see better regs. Also, if you play 40+ VPIP, every hand becomes a spot, so obviously there's lots to talk about. I have 45-60 minutes at my disposal, so I try to fill it with as much stuff as possible. I can 2 table and not miss anything, but there will be more dead stretches. 6 tabling is way too much and I timerfold all over the place and have to cut myself short in the middle of explanations. 4 seems optimal. The viewer will learn more from a video where the instructor gets in 15 spots and discusses 12, than from one where he gets in 10 spots and discusses 10. Also, you can ask me about any hand I didn't talk about in the comments. I've done both 2 tabling (so every hand gets discussed) and post video commentary (so I can pause), and live 4 tabling yielded the best results and least "complaints", so I'll stick to that.

If you really want to pick my brain and deeply analyze hands, I'll be announcing group coaching soon

What would you be your play if he called your c/r on TOP LEFT?

c/f. I c/r because it looks very strong, so when they don't fold they obviously have a very strong hand. I'm not folding out huge draws or made hands that call the flop on a brick turn. If the flush hits on the turn I'm in a tricky spot. KQ+ probably doesn't call my flop c/r, and a drawless made hand weaker than KQ probably folds when the flush hits. I could bet and c/f river to let him call once more with 1pair+turned FD, or just c/f turn as villains at these stakes will be less likely to turn their hands into bluffs. When turn goes x/x on a flush card I'll valuebet river like half pot and c/f on 4th flush card.

Though this looks for me like a spot where you should in general keep your range wide and to get Value from hands like TT-KK.
B/c you would cbet here usually your entire airrange, you keep your range here obv. wide by betting -> I just think that you will get here much easier 1 street of value from 2ndpairs than later in the hand after checked back such a flop.

But I could easily be beat, and they're also more likely to c/f here with 2nd pairs because it's 3way and I'm the 3bettor. I'm looking to play my hand for 1 bet here, and it'll be easier to achieve that by delaying the bet to the river or to induce a bluff from CO who could have suited connecters etc and thinking he can bluff putting us both on 2nd pairs.

This series will go from NL50 to NL400. I can't help it that the regs at NL50 aren't better just be patient for the rest of the series if you want to see better regs.

If you really want to pick my brain and deeply analyze hands, I'll be announcing group coaching soon

Ah thats nice!
Thought that the whole series will be on 50NL, but 50-400NL is obv great (I assume 2 vids on each level?).

I'll stay tuned for the group coaching, definitely interested but as always it depends on the time

Time Link to 00:31:14

On table 1 you call down the turn and river with J9 on AT49K and say that after the flop gets checked through villain can't suddenly be barreling two streets with much so he has air or the nuts essentially here. I agree once we get to the river that the call is good, but the turn call in itself against two players OOP on the turn doesn't seem good to me.

I feel like against their combined ranges you are going to lose this hand a lot since either player can have Tx, some better 9x, a hand like JJ or QQ some of the time, though usually those would get 3 bet, andall kinds of straight draws and spades with a K or Q. The only great card on the river for you is a 9 and you probably have more Reverse implied odds on a J than implied odds since Tx or worse will not be paying off to a bet on the river and will be checking back if checked to. Of course you do have the equity of them bluffing their missed draws, but is that enough of a reason for you to call the turn here?

I see that you addressed this at the end, but you still seemed a little unsure about what turn action is optimal here. What do you think now looking back on it?

You should not play over 4 tables if your current goal in poker is to improve and move up. If your goal is making money, improving and moving up has a higher EV long term, so if you're trying to earn some cash for your holiday next month go ahead and grind the way your hourly is highest, but usually it's most +EV to have improving as goal and thus you should not play more than 4 tables. 95% of players ignores this advice and 95% of players ends up being the stereotype close to break even rakeback grinding tagfishes that my entire style evolved around

awesome advice. thanks grindcore.

awesome advice. thanks grindcore.

yeah, i changed it from 6 back to 4. I need to learn to listen to people better then me in the things I want to achieve

it should be a bit more rakeback with 6 tables, but whatever, it's probably on a few dollars at the stakes I play anyway (25nl)

You should not play over 4 tables if your current goal in poker is to improve and move up. If your goal is making money, improving and moving up has a higher EV long term, so if you're trying to earn some cash for your holiday next month go ahead and grind the way your hourly is highest, but usually it's most +EV to have improving as goal and thus you should not play more than 4 tables. 95% of players ignores this advice and 95% of players ends up being the stereotype close to break even rakeback grinding tagfishes that my entire style evolved around

Thanks Grindcore. I used to play 6 and I have noticed that since cutting it to 4 about 2 moths ago, I am much more observant and take notes and develop plans vs specific players, etc. moving beyond mere hud stats. It really made a difference when deciding how thin I can value bet, bluff and bluff catch.

Time Link to 00:16:36

Bottom Left Table with the 65s;
If Villain only c/c the Flop he most of the time has a pair Tx/9x; whats your Riverplan if he would c/c the Turn and you miss your Draw? Do you ever 3barrel Bluff here, for example on an A/K or a Diamond?

Why? The only difference in how it plays is the absence of the pot button.

You will play regulars at my site, that I play myself. I also don't like the FTP software but that's minor.

it would also be nice if villains didn't know your SN in your future vids when you move up as they did in thinred line, which wasn't very good for the videos imo

I see that you addressed this at the end, but you still seemed a little unsure about what turn action is optimal here. What do you think now looking back on it?

The analysis at the end of the video was my opinion looking back on it hasn't changed haha. Close spot. If you think something is close, do what gains you most information (usually not folding).

Bottom Left Table with the 65s;
If Villain only c/c the Flop he most of the time has a pair Tx/9x; whats your Riverplan if he would c/c the Turn and you miss your Draw? Do you ever 3barrel Bluff here, for example on an A/K or a Diamond?

I disagree about his flop c/c range. Most TAG players flat small PPs and suited broadways from the SB, so his c/c range is way more likely to be a draw than a 1 pair hand. That's why I'd barrel every brick. And he won't fold a set even if a draw hits so I'd actually give up on the scarecards. If he was a fish (like sitting down with $41.63) then I'd jam tons of rivers as his range has more weaker 1 pair hands in it + he's afraid to bust as it could be his roll he's playing with.

You will play regulars at my site, that I play myself. I also don't like the FTP software but that's minor.

it would also be nice if villains didn't know your SN in your future vids when you move up as they did in thinred line, which wasn't very good for the videos imo

The player pool at NL50 is so huge that it wouldn't be of that much use. + the regs can generally be catagorized into bland stereotypes which you see across all rooms. The types of regs you're playing on stars are also in my videos on FT. Also tons of people know my stars SN as I made videos at another trainingsite before I joined DC, and it's also stated on 2+2 on numerous ocasions and in my coaching profile etc. And even if I wouldn't be recognized, after 1 video I would be so it's not a solution.

For practical reasons I simply don't play on Stars as I have no money and no rakeback on there

Very nice video and explanations, thanks

Time Link to 00:45:26

I know, in this spot you will almost never get a 3bet on the turn, but if it should happen, I guess that we B/F?
I anyways find that the C/R is pretty thin, even with the read that he can val.bet thinner b/c now he is IP and in the hand that had provided you the read that he can val.bet thinner, he was OOP and made a Blockbet...
I would not assume that he will necessarily bet here his 9x-hands b/c of our former note.

Just because our hand looks weak doesn't automatically mean it's thin. If he has 2p+ he'd likely raise flop on this board. Against a range of 9x Tx airfloats and draws I'm doing really well with T4, and it's also a board where I don't want to give him a free card so folding out worse is definitely a good thing. If he 3bets it's close. He could jam 9x for protection vs draw, he could jam draws, he might flat JT being more comfortable with his SD value. I might call a jam. In fact I'm pretty sure I would because it gives us the read too.

You should not play over 4 tables if your current goal in poker is to improve and move up. If your goal is making money, improving and moving up has a higher EV long term, so if you're trying to earn some cash for your holiday next month go ahead and grind the way your hourly is highest, but usually it's most +EV to have improving as goal and thus you should not play more than 4 tables. 95% of players ignores this advice and 95% of players ends up being the stereotype close to break even rakeback grinding tagfishes that my entire style evolved around

Hey Grindcore, at what point is it more overall +EV to play more than 4 tables than just stick to 4? In Leatherass' book, he talks about how over years of playing full time that "you will have seen so many of the same situations that your decisions will become mostly automated". Also, Jared Tendler goes on to say in a later chapter that less than 3% of all the decisions LA made at the poker tables required thought, but did emphasize continually focusing on eliminating mistakes and reviewing hard decisions. Are mass multitablers like Nanonoko and LA just freaks who are just exceptions, and we shouldn't strive to be like them? I'd like you to elaborate a little more on your quote.

Also, I'm sure you've seen lots of your students who are decent winners at SSNL but struggle when taking shots at midstakes. If you had to give a general piece of advice to players who fall in this category based on their common leaks that you see, what would it be? How were you able to get through this transition so quickly? What's the best approach we can take at and away from the tables that will help us the most become better hand readers and learn to exploit our opponents' tendencies? Do you do things like model hands in CardRunners EV or PokerRazor to find optimal lines, or do player analyses in HEM to go through opponents' hands filtering and trying to find their exploitabilities?

Hey Grindcore, at what point is it more overall +EV to play more than 4 tables than just stick to 4? In Leatherass' book, he talks about how over years of playing full time that "you will have seen so many of the same situations that your decisions will become mostly automated". Also, Jared Tendler goes on to say in a later chapter that less than 3% of all the decisions LA made at the poker tables required thought, but did emphasize continually focusing on eliminating mistakes and reviewing hard decisions. Are mass multitablers like Nanonoko and LA just freaks who are just exceptions, and we shouldn't strive to be like them? I'd like you to elaborate a little more on your quote.

Leatherass plays suboptimally tight so his decisions become easier. I'm sure I'd have no trouble beating him when he's masstabling and me being on 4 of his. He's basically advocating to be a robot and to try to have a default play for every spot. That opens you up to being crushed by observant and adapting players. By playing looser, a higher % of my decisions require thought too so it's not like I'm throwing away brain capacity by playing less tables. Take HU as extreme example of this. And because I get in more spots/hour despite playing fewer hands/hour, I also improve faster.

Also, I'm sure you've seen lots of your students who are decent winners at SSNL but struggle when taking shots at midstakes. If you had to give a general piece of advice to players who fall in this category based on their common leaks that you see, what would it be? How were you able to get through this transition so quickly? What's the best approach we can take at and away from the tables that will help us the most become better hand readers and learn to exploit our opponents' tendencies? Do you do things like model hands in CardRunners EV or PokerRazor to find optimal lines, or do player analyses in HEM to go through opponents' hands filtering and trying to find their exploitabilities?

NL200 to NL400 was the biggest jump in skill level I've encountered on my way up, so there's that. But the biggest struggle I see is psychological. Atleast half of my students that are in this catagory would beat NL200 if I'd have modded their software to make it look like they're playing NL200, only it's 400 without them knowing. I think everyone sees midstakes as kind of the ideal end goal, so that's where all those really good players they've been looking up to all the time are. So when they get there and some reg does something that's actually fairly ABC, they'll start getting paranoid because of all the possible things the reg might be doing in theory but what they were never afraid of at NL200, and FPS will ensue. Sure, you'll get outplayed sometimes, but this still happens so infrequent that assuming villain is doing what a NL200 reg would do will still yield the highest EV. You'll figure out the tricky regs in due time.

I'd have modded their software to make it look like they're playing NL200, only it's 400 without them knowing.

do you sell this software?

Leatherass plays suboptimally tight so his decisions become easier. I'm sure I'd have no trouble beating him when he's masstabling and me being on 4 of his. He's basically advocating to be a robot and to try to have a default play for every spot. That opens you up to being crushed by observant and adapting players. By playing looser, a higher % of my decisions require thought too so it's not like I'm throwing away brain capacity by playing less tables. Take HU as extreme example of this. And because I get in more spots/hour despite playing fewer hands/hour, I also improve faster.

leatherass also said in a recent blog post that hes going to be cutting his tables back to ~6, since after playing a decent amount of live poker this year he realized how much he was missing by just being a robot. He also said that his highest winrate year was when he was only playing 6 tables.

Nanonoko is just an anomaly imo.

Time Link to 00:47:31

do you make such underbets on 1-tone boards also vs. REGs?
I guess not b/c you do not want to rly underbet here also for value (Protection...)?

do you make such underbets on 1-tone boards also vs. REGs?
I guess not b/c you do not want to rly underbet here also for value (Protection...)?

I do it vs regs too. I mean, you fold out random air anyway so a small bet protects too. And you weaken his c/c range so your turnbet has more FE. And since this is NLHE and you never have anything, I rather use a line that works well with bluffs than a line that works well with strong hands.

Time Link to 00:39:23

would you be bet/folding turn if he didnt donk?

So, I am ready with watching the vid and just wanted to say that it was another great vid.
Rly looking forward to the further parts where you also will play SSNL and then MSNL.
I also find it just great that you are one of the producers that rly answer patiently all the user-question - this is just how a producer should makea job and i rly hope that DC will benefit it to you strongly

Maybe one last interesting question:
You have recommended to play fewer tables in general, when you wanna improve.
Of course I agree with this 100%.
But (I just assume you play also private fewer tables b/c of your LAG-style) how do you solve the problem in putting enough volume in it?
Have you any specific daily or monthly volume-targets?
Do you actually care about volume?

Thanks for your reply. I was wondering how you became such a good hand reader so quickly though. Not only that, but able to come up with such creative ways to use these reads to maximally exploit your opponents.

We see in your sweat vids like this one how you take notes, develop your reads, etc. But what other things did you do to become such a good hand reader and player overall? What types of things away from the tables: reviewing HH's, doing players analyses in HEM, modeling hands and different lines in CardRunners EV, etc? It's just that you seem to have such a deep understanding of the game and make it look so easy that I'm trying to understand a better approach I can take in my practice and play to get there too.

So, I am ready with watching the vid and just wanted to say that it was another great vid.
Rly looking forward to the further parts where you also will play SSNL and then MSNL.
I also find it just great that you are one of the producers that rly answer patiently all the user-question - this is just how a producer should makea job and i rly hope that DC will benefit it to you strongly

Maybe one last interesting question:
You have recommended to play fewer tables in general, when you wanna improve.
Of course I agree with this 100%.
But (I just assume you play also private fewer tables b/c of your LAG-style) how do you solve the problem in putting enough volume in it?
Have you any specific daily or monthly volume-targets?
Do you actually care about volume?

Thanks

Volume is irrelevant. $/hour is what it's all about in the end. If I put in an equal ammount of hours as a masstabler, while having a higher hourly winrate, I'll win more $. It's pretty simple really

would you be bet/folding turn if he didnt donk?

Hmm, that'd be close and would possibly have been the hardest spot in the video. I think BB would c/r flop with a T usually, and SB seemed to be a TAG reg so he doesn't have many Tx in his SB flatting range, especially not offsuit ones, so I'm only afraid of a few combos of Tx (which he also likely c/r's) and 99 and QJ. 88 probably folds the flop. So SB most likely has a draw. BB probably doesn't c/overcall a 9 (though he might) and c/r a T, but then again he could also c/r a draw, especially a weak one like QJ no FD... I think b/f is fine to fold out FDs or get value from combodraws as you're unlikely to get semi bluff checkraised at these stakes, but it's very close. There's also the problem with checking back that when they lead the river on pretty much any card you're in a hard spot. I think betting 1/3rd pot on the turn might be the best, as this will likely induce a c/c from draws as it's cheap, and not a c/r, and it will also induce a river check, so you can check back and guarantee a showdown, taking away their ability to bluff you. We also have great implied odds on a K which would be a reason for checking, and a T is a very good card too... Very close. Probably bet here and check at NL200.

Time Link to 00:37:55

Why to open KJ UTG if you are going to fold to a shove of the shorty?

Thanks for your reply. I was wondering how you became such a good hand reader so quickly though. Not only that, but able to come up with such creative ways to use these reads to maximally exploit your opponents.

We see in your sweat vids like this one how you take notes, develop your reads, etc. But what other things did you do to become such a good hand reader and player overall? What types of things away from the tables: reviewing HH's, doing players analyses in HEM, modeling hands and different lines in CardRunners EV, etc? It's just that you seem to have such a deep understanding of the game and make it look so easy that I'm trying to understand a better approach I can take in my practice and play to get there too.

The only tool I really used is pokerstove. I thought pokerazor was interesting but too much of a hassle. Coming up with solutions for unique situations is problem solving. I'm not sure you can train your general problem solving skills. Though I know if you practice a lot of IQ-test like questions, you score slightly higher on an IQ test, so I guess that actively solving problems a lot could increase the ability to some extend, but each person has it's limits. I don't really like talking about it as it can sound braggish etc, but I got tested genius as a kid and skipped a grade, so I probably have an "unfair" advantage on that area. When I was moving up I was also obsessed with poker and was thinking about it all the time, dreaming about it, viewing the world through poker eyes (recognize poker hands in licence plates, doing EV estimates of going to the store when it's raining but you're hungry etc). Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect once you start getting that you'll improve a lot faster.

Why to open KJ UTG if you are going to fold to a shove of the shorty?

I was turning off the hot air blower so I auto pilot folded without thinking. I should definitely have called, though it's a bit close. If button folds there's a good amount of dead money to compensate for being slightly behind, and if button calls I get to play postflop vs a fish. The downside is that I can't bluff postflop because I'll be bluffing for the empty sidepot.

Time Link to 00:47:18

Can you explain better why do you think underbetting works well in monotone boards? ty

Can you explain better why do you think underbetting works well in monotone boards? ty

I already elaborated on this in a previous answer, so look for that one. Let me know if you still have questions after that.

Time Link to 00:22:04

one other data point that's interesting on this hand, is 10 minutes before that player was coolered AA over AK for a stack. I think we could up his bluffing frequency b/c of that unless you think hes some sort of consumate professional mentally and emotionally

Thanks

Volume is irrelevant. $/hour is what it's all about in the end. If I put in an equal ammount of hours as a masstabler, while having a higher hourly winrate, I'll win more $. It's pretty simple really

all right, thanks

one other data point that's interesting on this hand, is 10 minutes before that player was coolered AA over AK for a stack. I think we could up his bluffing frequency b/c of that unless you think hes some sort of consumate professional mentally and emotionally

Hm yeah, I missed that and probably wouldn't have considered it either, as most regs at my stakes are professional players and are generally better at handling variance. The lower the stakes the more tilt sensitive everyone gets.

I don't really like talking about it as it can sound braggish etc, but I got tested genius as a kid and skipped a grade, so I probably have an "unfair" advantage on that area.

i dont think that sounds braggish at all. thats awesome! your way to humble, Bart.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect once you start getting that you'll improve a lot faster.

haha very interesting

Time Link to 00:17:56

with the 22 you said it is probably a call . $52.20/$4.50 is 11.60 so the villian has about 12x the size of the raise. would it maybe be a call for set mining purposes? or are you putting villian on high cards and think you can out play villian post flop?

with the 22 you said it is probably a call . $52.20/$4.50 is 11.60 so the villian has about 12x the size of the raise. would it maybe be a call for set mining purposes? or are you putting villian on high cards and think you can out play villian post flop?

A bit of both.

Time Link to 00:06:16

on the 22 hand in the upper right corner. at what point does it become improper to set mine? like if he makes it 2? also what do u think about folding the 22? sorry about all my pocket pair questions but im having a lot of questions with them in my game at the moment.
i was using the 10x rule(villan has to have 10x size of raise in stack to make it a profitable call) but i'm starting to think this is not right maybe its 15x or 20x

on the 22 hand in the upper right corner. at what point does it become improper to set mine? like if he makes it 2? also what do u think about folding the 22? sorry about all my pocket pair questions but im having a lot of questions with them in my game at the moment.
i was using the 10x rule(villan has to have 10x size of raise in stack to make it a profitable call) but i'm starting to think this is not right maybe its 15x or 20x

If he makes it 2, there's still 25x as much behind with 100bb stacks.

But I almost never purely setmine, I also play for the showdownvalue. Though with 22 that's very low, against certain opponents it's quite possible. And I can just bluff my way to victory sometimes, if the situation is right. Ifyou're purely setmining, your opponent better either be drunk or be very aggressive or it might simply be incorrect to call preflop with any stacksize.

Time Link to 00:09:07

why in table 2 you ck behind with AQ in KJx, to pot control against his air, and in table 4 after you flat AKs vs UTG open you bet when checked to in 632r? don´t applys the same logic as table 2?

Another thing, AQ in KJx you don't like to cbet to fold out his low pps, and to protect your equity in tha hand? because AQ its an hand you have a lot of outs to improve you can also barrel him of a weak J? whats your thought on that?

ty

why in table 2 you ck behind with AQ in KJx, to pot control against his air, and in table 4 after you flat AKs vs UTG open you bet when checked to in 632r? don´t applys the same logic as table 2?

Another thing, AQ in KJx you don't like to cbet to fold out his low pps, and to protect your equity in tha hand? because AQ its an hand you have a lot of outs to improve you can also barrel him of a weak J? whats your thought on that?

ty

Do you mean the AKs hand on table 3 that happened at the same time? I called a cbet there, I didn't bet. If you mean another AKs hand, please leave a timestamp.

Yeah I'd normally cbet the AQ vs SB callers as their range is pocket pair heavy, but this guy seemed to be a bit looser and likely has more broadways in his range that won't fold. Betting to 3barrel is probably good though.

On table 1 you call down the turn and river with J9 on AT49K and say that after the flop gets checked through villain can't suddenly be barreling two streets with much so he has air or the nuts essentially here. I agree once we get to the river that the call is good, but the turn call in itself against two players OOP on the turn doesn't seem good to me.

http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/13-Videos/topics/330621-The-Thin-Red-Grind-Episod?

I feel like against their combined ranges you are going to lose this hand a lot since either player can have Tx, some better 9x, a hand like JJ or QQ some of the time, though usually those would get 3 bet, andall kinds of straight draws and spades with a K or Q. The only great card on the river for you is a 9 and you probably have more Reverse implied odds on a J than implied odds since Tx or worse will not be paying off to a bet on the river and will be checking back if checked to. Of course you do have the equity of them bluffing their missed draws, but is that enough of a reason for you to call the turn here?

I'm wondering about this hand too. The river call seems ambitious to me. Can't villain have KT QJ? I think you thought he bet turn and river in the video but he called turn bet river. Also at the time you weren't worried about the hands the other guy had who still had to act. I'm wondering if you still like your play or if there's something about their ranges I'm not getting. It just seems like they have a lot of value hands to me to make up for the times they have missed draws.

I'm wondering about this hand too. The river call seems ambitious to me. Can't villain have KT QJ? I think you thought he bet turn and river in the video but he called turn bet river. Also at the time you weren't worried about the hands the other guy had who still had to act. I'm wondering if you still like your play or if there's something about their ranges I'm not getting. It just seems like they have a lot of value hands to me to make up for the times they have missed draws.

I address the hand at the end of the video, so watch that first

Let me know if you still have questions after.

I address the hand at the end of the video, so watch that first

Let me know if you still have questions after.

Ah thanks I was only about halfway through the video at the time. There's a lot to digest. I still think I'm having trouble putting villain on a correct range in the J9 hand and I'm always worried that I'm going to give him too wide of a range. Do you think the range below looks ok or do you think you have even more equity? If you give him hearts it's probably an easy river call, but I think most people bet hearts in position on the flop? I know you only need to be good about 30% of the time to break even on the call.

I learned a ton from this hand about the turn call and I get why it's a call on the river if everyone bets Tx or better on the flop. I just used to auto fold turn and auto fold the river since the king hit and I assumed they had a ton of QJ in their range. I'm hoping I can start to recognize these spots better while I'm playing but in the heat of the moment it seems tough.

Board: Ah Ts 4h 9s Kc
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 57.143% 57.14% 00.00% 12 0.00 { QJs, 87s, 8s6s, 7s6s, 7s5s, 6s5s, 5s4s, QJo }
Hand 1: 42.857% 42.86% 00.00% 9 0.00 { Jc9d }

If villain has KTo and KTs in his range then you go down to 30% equity.

Ah thanks I was only about halfway through the video at the time. There's a lot to digest. I still think I'm having trouble putting villain on a correct range in the J9 hand and I'm always worried that I'm going to give him too wide of a range. Do you think the range below looks ok or do you think you have even more equity? If you give him hearts it's probably an easy river call, but I think most people bet hearts in position on the flop? I know you only need to be good about 30% of the time to break even on the call.

I learned a ton from this hand about the turn call and I get why it's a call on the river if everyone bets Tx or better on the flop. I just used to auto fold turn and auto fold the river since the king hit and I assumed they had a ton of QJ in their range. I'm hoping I can start to recognize these spots better while I'm playing but in the heat of the moment it seems tough.

Board: Ah Ts 4h 9s Kc
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 57.143% 57.14% 00.00% 12 0.00 { QJs, 87s, 8s6s, 7s6s, 7s5s, 6s5s, 5s4s, QJo }
Hand 1: 42.857% 42.86% 00.00% 9 0.00 { Jc9d }

If villain has KTo and KTs in his range then you go down to 30% equity.

Which means I'm still priced in to call

Cool thanks just a spot I wanted to make sure I wasn't off base with his range as I haven't done too much analysis in this spot for hand combos and equity since I've always just folded and assumed they had QJ.

Cool thanks just a spot I wanted to make sure I wasn't off base with his range as I haven't done too much analysis in this spot for hand combos and equity since I've always just folded and assumed they had QJ.

Yeah he could have KT, but appearantly also 87o. There's always some spazz factor. I probably have 33% equity or so, which means I can call a potsized bet, but when he pots he has the nuts so I should fold anyway then

Yeah he could have KT, but appearantly also 87o. There's always some spazz factor. I probably have 33% equity or so, which means I can call a potsized bet, but when he pots he has the nuts so I should fold anyway then

I think I finally feel like this hand clicked for me. It seems easy now but there's no way I would be able to spot it until you explained it in the video and even then it took it this long for it to truly click for me.

I just started throwing some hands in stove again today and I got exactly 42.857% equity for villain which is what I got before and posted on here. Now I also think that he can show up with missed hearts which for some weird reason I didn't think he could have before. The big thing that made the hand make sense to me was I finding out you have 27% equity even if villain can vbet KQ on the river and never shows up with missed hearts. So that's a pretty unrealistic scenario and a much more realistic one is that he has J8s, 87o, or a million other missed flush draws because people love suited and connected cards and I'm still surprised by the wide range of stuff people are calling with at these stakes even from people with not so fishy stats.

Congratulations, you've just become a better handreader.

Congratulations, you've just become a better handreader.

Oh ty. Finally got a chance to use the same logic from that hand although the spot probably looks obvious to someone good: http://www.pokerhand.org/?5980421

25nl Rush. PFR is a 13/10 over 63 hands and other guy is a 25/14 over 29 hands. I think the pfr has 88-TT when he calls flop so I checked the turn thinking I would overrep my hand with a bet. On the other hand I have the best hand so often and now that I think about it he would fold TT so the turn is probably a bet.

On the river the 25/14 bet and it didn't really make much sense for him to have a J or 7 especially because he's russian and I have yet to see a russian at 25nl rush check mid pair or better in this spot because they play so straightforward. In the past I'd just be like welp he has 7x or Jx what can I do, and even if he doesn't pfr could have TT. Like you said in your video though if I call here pfr is probably always going to fold a lot and I was confident this type of player would fold TT too and that's probably the top of his range for calling.

Why? The only difference in how it plays is the absence of the pot button.

Just a quick FYI, you can set a pot button on PS now under Options > Bet Slider Options.

Amazing reads and description of your thought process, thank you for making these vids.

hi all

@grindcore
min52 left bottom table(AJ), why you dont shove the turn w gs+oc+fd against the fish, also it seems that he is weak in case of his betsize

hi all

@grindcore
min52 left bottom table(AJ), why you dont shove the turn w gs+oc+fd against the fish, also it seems that he is weak in case of his betsize

If he has a weak FD, I want to see the river as he might fold the turn to a shove but I can stack him when we hit. If he's weak, he'll likely b/f or c/f river anyway so if I'm gonna shove, I can just delay it to the river and possibly get another bet out of him before taking it down for the same price.

I'm not sure why I didn't shove the river in the video as it's too long ago and I can't remember my reads anymore, and I'm not gonna watch the entire video to get them again. I probably was distracted from the river bluff at table 3, or I had a read on him about his value betsizes or something, or a read he'd bet-call any pair on either turn or river.

Time Link to 00:13:20

Hi again hopefuly I am not getting annoying yet still 6.5 vids to go ;o

Here you open from MP with K9o
You 2 barrel on QJXXQ double suited against an unknown midstack.
1) Am I right that your plan was to 3 barrel a ton of rivers since there are so many draws on turn that will call here but should fold to a river bet (is a plan to either check turn or 3barrel a lot a correct one)?
2) Which river cards would you barrel
-paired (Q is the worst one, what about J pairing or one of the low X pairing?)
-total rags
-Ax
-Heart hitting
-Spade hitting

3) How much would you make it, would it vary on the different cards?
4) Is hitting a K a value bet on the river even when its a spade or heart and how much would you bet ?

Hi again hopefuly I am not getting annoying yet still 6.5 vids to go ;o

Here you open from MP with K9o
You 2 barrel on QJXXQ double suited against an unknown midstack.
1) Am I right that your plan was to 3 barrel a ton of rivers since there are so many draws on turn that will call here but should fold to a river bet (is a plan to either check turn or 3barrel a lot a correct one)?
2) Which river cards would you barrel
-paired (Q is the worst one, what about J pairing or one of the low X pairing?)
-total rags
-Ax
-Heart hitting
-Spade hitting

3) How much would you make it, would it vary on the different cards?
4) Is hitting a K a value bet on the river even when its a spade or heart and how much would you bet ?

Maybe I knew more at the time. Can't remember anything anymore. But just looking at the hand, the 2nd barrel seems terrible. I often have to 3barrel to win and he's rarely gonna fold a queen, and might even herocall a jack when draws miss. I mostly get him off busted draws by 3barreling so I should just check back on the turn. I'd like a 2barrel better with AK or 77 as you can check back the river and win more often. If I barrel the river I'd bet like 40% pot just to make him fold missed draws on bricks, and I'd probably bet big on an ace and give up on a heart.

Time Link to 00:26:53

here you c/r as PFR with a straight draw on KXXs.

Do you focus on the topic of c/raising as PFR in detail somewhere or are you aware of somebody else focusing on it?
It's like literally 2 days I since I raised the question elsewhere when a nit check raised me
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/904401

I don't even know where to start as I never do it and I hardly know what it means from other people, should I be balanced? What do I rep? Doesn't it screw my betting range?
You don't see that in many vids and regs do it very very rarely

Time Link to 00:42:31

I dislike your bluff here, your stats + the fact that you beat him out of two pots recently one with c/r is very likely to make him pissed and not fold anything would you agree? I love it with clean image though
Or is it one of the spots that you bluff at anyway, if he folds you got a weak spot if he calls your image is even worse and you can value town him hardcore next time?

It reminded me of Syous and Chipchucker in a video where they made a huge bluff andwere tanging with a villain a ton and then made another huge bluff 250bb deep, got called with A high and went on berating the guy for calling them so light, that their range crushes him etc etc. where he was clearly emotionally attached and had his intuitive defence mechanisms
afecting his decisions (you don't need to actually show people bluffs to trigger this, taking pots of them is well enough).

I am almost certain he would be a lot less likely to make the call against you if you didn't take the 2 pots from him in last couple orbits.

Time Link to 00:43:19

Yeah here we go, now you value town him with the same line
The thing is the likelihood of him calling you down light has increased signifficantly although you didn't have empirical proof for it the hand where you bluffed the river, I guess you prefer pushing aggression anyway as opposed to predicting these spots and adjust once you actually get hard evidence that he calls you light/is emotionaly atached?

I know, in this spot you will almost never get a 3bet on the turn, but if it should happen, I guess that we B/F?
I anyways find that the C/R is pretty thin, even with the read that he can val.bet thinner b/c now he is IP and in the hand that had provided you the read that he can val.bet thinner, he was OOP and made a Blockbet...
I would not assume that he will necessarily bet here his 9x-hands b/c of our former note.

That's why prologion thinks it's thin, it's not at all, what's a guy playing19/10 doing there with T3o anyway? He was clearly pissed at you so much at this point and him showing up with a hand like thisor spewing with random bsis no surprise although we never saw him call a hand like this before

Time Link to 00:49:14

People don't bluf when you stack them with a big hand because of the negative emotion and punishment they remember from the time when they played back at you. Their brain remembers the pain inflicted and intuitively will bias them towards avoiding the situation that causes the pain and will skew their decision making

Time Link to 00:51:29

now you get KK again lol
It's all interesting stuff, when you 3bet+stack off the first time with nuts his intuition will have the negative imediate situation strongly imprinted, but when you do it three times something called belief in the law of small numbersthat vast majority of people have,comes in with conflicting impulses, because of the scarce distribution of nutted combos in overal distribution they expect each sample of the large population to reflect the distributions in the overal population, i.e. when you flip a coin 6 times and ask people to give you arandom sequence most people will come up with whatever sequence that has 3X Tail and 3X Heads, and in this example intuitive response that believes in the law of small numbers calculates that it's impossible to get dealt a strong hand 3 times in 5 hands and therefore you must have nothing now
I bet if he had anything nearly callable he'd snap your shove there but he had toal air.


It starts becoming a pattern and you and one more very successfull guy I know make extremely accurate predictions of behavior without knowing the actual models or reasons behind them, I guess that comes with frequent aware observation, but you need some skill to do that too (you were talking about yur knife shenanigans in CS if I recall correctly too,
that would suggest it's not just observation and experience but also a skill?)
I really have a strong feeling that it's not mostly the lines that you take but the ability to intuitivelypredict behavior of actual people that makes you successull.

Time Link to 00:53:07

Now you raise him because last time you showed him a value hand...But he called you light and you have super agro image by now and he showed you he doesn't fold T3o in the blinds.

I rest my case.I sure hope this intuitivesense is obtained more through experience and observation and less from skill. I was always terrible with a knife in my CS days

here you c/r as PFR with a straight draw on KXXs.

Do you focus on the topic of c/raising as PFR in detail somewhere or are you aware of somebody else focusing on it?
It's like literally 2 days I since I raised the question elsewhere when a nit check raised me
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/904401

I don't even know where to start as I never do it and I hardly know what it means from other people, should I be balanced? What do I rep? Doesn't it screw my betting range?
You don't see that in many vids and regs do it very very rarely

Drop down (optional), try it out, see how people respond! When you bet a flop, your opponent doesn't know you would have checkraised certain hands. Balance is completely irrelevant. The only thing that matters is your perceived range.

I dislike your bluff here, your stats + the fact that you beat him out of two pots recently one with c/r is very likely to make him pissed and not fold anything would you agree? I love it with clean image though
Or is it one of the spots that you bluff at anyway, if he folds you got a weak spot if he calls your image is even worse and you can value town him hardcore next time?

It reminded me of Syous and Chipchucker in a video where they made a huge bluff andwere tanging with a villain a ton and then made another huge bluff 250bb deep, got called with A high and went on berating the guy for calling them so light, that their range crushes him etc etc. where he was clearly emotionally attached and had his intuitive defence mechanisms
afecting his decisions (you don't need to actually show people bluffs to trigger this, taking pots of them is well enough).

I am almost certain he would be a lot less likely to make the call against you if you didn't take the 2 pots from him in last couple orbits.

Running a bluff HU is very different from running a bluff vs a 6max mass tabler. Especially at these stakes. Re-watch the 2nd episode of the thin red line where intentionally get way out of line just to proof that people don't adjust even if what you're doing is ridiculously obvious.

Yeah here we go, now you value town him with the same line
The thing is the likelihood of him calling you down light has increased signifficantly although you didn't have empirical proof for it the hand where you bluffed the river, I guess you prefer pushing aggression anyway as opposed to predicting these spots and adjust once you actually get hard evidence that he calls you light/is emotionaly atached?

I am predicting these spots: he'll mostly fold. I'm not betting purely to see if he'll call or not. Though if 2 different plays are close in EV, I'll go for the one that gives me the most information (like bluffraising that river as opposed to folding).

People don't bluf when you stack them with a big hand because of the negative emotion and punishment they remember from the time when they played back at you. Their brain remembers the pain inflicted and intuitively will bias them towards avoiding the situation that causes the pain and will skew their decision making

I have no idea to what exactly you're responding to here. There's no hand at the timestamp and my ramble seems to have started minutes ago. I'm not gonna rewatch it all to possibly get a clue about what you're responding to. Please be more specific with your posts, I've literally spend hours searching through my own videos because the questions everyone ask are so non-specific.

It starts becoming a pattern and you and one more very successfull guy I know make extremely accurate predictions of behavior without knowing the actual models or reasons behind them, I guess that comes with frequent aware observation, but you need some skill to do that too (you were talking about yur knife shenanigans in CS if I recall correctly too,
that would suggest it's not just observation and experience but also a skill?)
I really have a strong feeling that it's not mostly the lines that you take but the ability to intuitivelypredict behavior of actual people that makes you successull.

Yeah you're correct. I have some sort of "rational empathy". I've always had it. I don't think you can learn it (or I wouldn't know how to teach it anyway). It's not flawless but good enough to base decisions off.

Time Link to 00:05:39

why do you call the flop 3bet? Is it because you think you have showdown value? I understand that you raise his weak bet but when he 3bets, he is likely to have a PP that wont fold at any point in the hand or A high, that beats you too. Do you plan on make him fold A high on later street ?

why do you call the flop 3bet? Is it because you think you have showdown value? I understand that you raise his weak bet but when he 3bets, he is likely to have a PP that wont fold at any point in the hand or A high, that beats you too. Do you plan on make him fold A high on later street ?

1) potodds. My outs are pretty much always good
2) he's often full of it (and not in the house way). A high doesn't play like that, it has SD value and will just get called. The min3b is polarized.

1) potodds. My outs are pretty much always good
2) he's often full of it (and not in the house way). A high doesn't play like that, it has SD value and will just get called. The min3b is polarized.

you think he can min3bet random stuff with no showdown value in this spot ? would you try to move him off his hand on later streets when you dont hit ?

you think he can min3bet random stuff with no showdown value in this spot ? would you try to move him off his hand on later streets when you dont hit ?

I beat random stuff with no showdownvalue.

I beat random stuff with no showdownvalue.

so you'll try to get to showdown, not to move him off his hand?

what I want to know is what do you do when you didnt hit and he :
A) checks turn
b) bets turn
with your plan for the river for this 2 options?

sry for all that questions but I tried to understand the right thought to have in spot like this vs fish.

Depends on the turn card, timing, sizing, etc. But surely there are enough scenarios where I end up winning the hand to justify calling a min3b in position. If you're not sure how to think about various turn spots, you shouldn't be calling the flop.

Time Link to 00:23:23

between 26:40 and 27:00 of the video, you said something about the table 2 (A6s) hands. You said that he is aggro and that he probably checked back this 988r with a showdown hand.

Is it standard to check back something like 77-22 on this flop ? because I thought that you would cbet it (in vilain shoes) for value/protection (more protection because I dont think you get value from lots of hands ?)

Because you said in my comment from you ep1 that on a T42tt, you prefere cbetting a PP (55-99) than AK, which I understand because KK dont get called by worst (and no need to protect AK imo).

But is there a difference between this 2 spots ? does the tt flop change something ? Maybe a flop twotone gives you the chance to bet for value ?

between 26:40 and 27:00 of the video, you said something about the table 2 (A6s) hands. You said that he is aggro and that he probably checked back this 988r with a showdown hand.

Is it standard to check back something like 77-22 on this flop ? because I thought that you would cbet it (in vilain shoes) for value/protection (more protection because I dont think you get value from lots of hands ?)

Because you said in my comment from you ep1 that on a T42tt, you prefere cbetting a PP (55-99) than AK, which I understand because KK dont get called by worst (and no need to protect AK imo).

But is there a difference between this 2 spots ? does the tt flop change something ? Maybe a flop twotone gives you the chance to bet for value ?

This was read-based. Just because I think betting an underpair is better than checking it doesn't mean he's doing it.

When a player is betting a ton, and suddenly checks in a spot where he'd normally be betting, he's way more likely to actually have a hand this time than that he has air this time and that he actually had a hand all the other times. Especially if you bet polarized when checked to, which is very common, you end up betting ~80% as you hit the flop ~1/3 times and probably check back ~half of those, leaving ~80%. This fits the observations so far, so by Bayesian probability he's way more likely to have showdownvalue than air. If I had the opposite read, I'd not be betting the turn as his air might decide to take a stab at it on the turn and I can't really get called by much I beat when I bet.

Very nice video.Thoroughly enjoyed it.

1) At 29 min top right table AK hand:We c/c turn mainly because we felt his range is more weighted towards draws.So what are we doing on low offsuit cards on the river??I think we have to c/f because we rep a lot of strength by c/c 2 streets on this board so he should bluff with his missed draws.Am I right here???
For the turn c/c:
www.pokerstrategy.com
Board: Td9dQhAh
Equity Win Tie
SB 54.81% 54.36% 0.44% { AQs-A9s, KJs, Q9s+, JTs, T9s, KdQd, KdTd, Kd9d, Ad8d, 9d8d, Ad7d, 8d7d, Ad6d, 7d6d, Ad5d, 6d5d, Ad4d, Ad3d, Ad2d, AQo-A9o, KJo, Q9o+, JTo, T9o }
BB 45.19% 44.75% 0.44% { AsKh }

2) At 29 min bottom right table A6o:Is the call there preflop standard vs a fish???

3) At 41 min top right table 33 hand:I didn’t get the reasoning behind raising the river clearly. Please explain it. According to me when he bets this small on the river its mostly for value and a value hand on that board is mostly a full house and at these stakes no one ever folds a full house.In that case wasn’t the raise unprofitable??

4)At 43 min bottom left table KQo:Again I didn’t get the raise on the river.Except KJ we cant get value out of anything worse.He can easily have 66,TT,KTs in his range.That is 8 combos.KJ too is 8 combos.So we have exactly 50% equity when called.Against all bluffs on the river we anyways win.So I didn’t get the reasoning behind the raise.

Thanks in advance.

1) Check calling twice on a wet board doesn't look strong as in never folding river. 2 pairs, sets etc likely put in a raise on the flop or turn. The double check call looks more like pair+draw like QJ JT NFD etc. The river is a very reasonable spot for him to bluff those hands. I don't remember the reads I had so I don't know if I'd call or not. Most people don't bluff rivers enough so it's best to lean towards folding against unknowns.

2) He's almost 50 vpip so far and opens only 2.5x and I'm on the button. There are also two passive players in the blinds too. This is an excellent spot to call wider. I could 3b it too but I'd like a slightly stronger kicker for that since if I hit, villain is very unlikely to pay with 2nd pairs since aces scare fishes. Ie, he'll fold T8s to barrels on ATx but not on JTx. I probably 3b A9o+ for value there.

To all players that aren't winning at NL50 yet: fold pre with A6o there by default. In video 1 I played more like you should probably be playing, so I fold hands pre that I could play profitably but a NL50 reg realistically couldn't. In this video I play like I think is most +EV for myself.

3) Every pair is a full house there so it's nothing special. Back in the golden days nobody ever folded any full house but we're long past that. His sizing makes me think he doesn't have quads so it looks more like 99 or 88. Those hands usually bet-fold river. He didn't because he's clearly playing back at me (just his preflop flat alone is evident) because of my image, but being played back at is very rare, especially at these stakes, so you should assume they're not until proven otherwise.

4) He's the same villain from 3). Think about that for a second. If you still don't get it, ask again

thnx a lot for your answers.
I think i got the reasoning for the river raise on the KQo hand.We are raising because our opponent seems to think that we are reckless and has started playing back at us.So he'll call us down lighter.
Please correct me if i am wrong.

thnx a lot for your answers.
I think i got the reasoning for the river raise on the KQo hand.We are raising because our opponent seems to think that we are reckless and has started playing back at us.So he'll call us down lighter.
Please correct me if i am wrong.

That's the gist of it. He has both shown that he calls me much lighter preflop thus weakening his range, and has also shown that he valuebets river razor-thin and doesn't fold to raises. This makes valueraising him wider on the river good. I've also shown I cbet air, check turn and then bluffraise river, making a valueraise better too.

That's the gist of it. He has both shown that he calls me much lighter preflop thus weakening his range, and has also shown that he valuebets river razor-thin and doesn't fold to raises. This makes valueraising him wider on the river good. I've also shown I cbet air, check turn and then bluffraise river, making a valueraise better too.

thnx.i get it now.You are really good at explaining things.The day i move up at 200NL i am surely taking your coaching.Unfortunately i cant afford your rates at this moment

Time Link to 00:03:50

You said AK has better equity on this flop than 55 because AK has 6 outs, but 55 also has 6 outs; did you mean hands like 77/88 instead? 99 I think would probably be close between checking and betting, maybe it's more villain postflop dependent.

Although 55 has slightly better equity here than AK against a typical BTN range, is AK only better for check calling because villain is likely to bluff A/K turns hence increasing our equity on future streets? (If that makes sense)

Your videos are seriously awesome

You said AK has better equity on this flop than 55 because AK has 6 outs, but 55 also has 6 outs; did you mean hands like 77/88 instead? 99 I think would probably be close between checking and betting, maybe it's more villain postflop dependent.

Although 55 has slightly better equity here than AK against a typical BTN range, is AK only better for check calling because villain is likely to bluff A/K turns hence increasing our equity on future streets? (If that makes sense)

Your videos are seriously awesome

Yes.
Yes.
(Yes )

Thanks Grindcore

Time Link to 00:34:24

do you call 76ss table one here just for the vid: playing loose or is this just a normal call for you? without a fish, 3betting is better I think? or do you call because you are deeper vs "eric cardman 15"? But being deeper vs him doenst change that much imo because if you make a flush you dont want to get the money in. So playing 100bb or 200bb doesnt change that much here in this spot imo, especially nowing that players here on 50nl are not messing around with you 3way.

Most of my questions got answered later reading comments but 2 left:

3:48 Table 2 AKo on 642r
What's bottom of your x/calling range (vs unknown)?

18:20 Table 2 22
I assume you are calling this only because of video? Is that your std call vs 100bb stack on UTG/MP?

Great video again, IMO best option for videos would be commenting prerecorded session.