Hi Nelson,

"1)how do you play against limpers that limp even in 30/60 blinds?"

You're thinking about stack sizes incorrectly. Instead of deciding how to play hands based on blind levels, start to think about your plays based on effective stack sizes. For example, hand 1) blind level: 10/20 stack sizes:140 and 860, and hand 2) blind level: 30/60 stack sizes 420 and 580. Both hands have an effective stack size of 7 big blinds. To determine this, take the smallest stack size of the two players and divide by the big blind. Your strategy should be largely determined by the effective stack size. Therefore, in both hands, your strategy should be the same given the same opponent.

"2) how you adjust your range against +30% (i think is more) 3 betters when u mini raise in 20/40 levels?. (are globally 33% but i think is more in 20/40)"

Again, think about the situation using effective stack size. Questions you might want to consider when creating a strategy vs a high 3 bet %: a) What's his 3 bet % range? He might be shoving top 35% of hands. He might be shoving top 17.5% hands plus 17.5% of hands he views as too weak to flat, but profitable to shove. b) How large is his flatting range, and how does he play postflop in these scenarios? In an extreme example, an opponent might be 3betting you 35%, but flatting the other 65% while playing extremely transparent on the flop. This might give you an incentive to still minraise a large portion of your hands. c) How might he play vs limps or open shoves? Try to define weaknesses in your opponent's game.

Hi Trikke,

"1. every time people say to take notes about your opponent tendencies, it means when oppo bluffs on which kind of board/texture, related to the action? can you make some example? to what kind of note take down and if trust to that note"

You can take notes on many areas of an opponent's tendencies. Regarding the specific type of note you mention, an example might be: you minraise preflop w 9To, opp calls. flop T97r. you cbet, opp calls. turn 8x, opp checks, you check. river 2x. your opp bets 1/2 pot, you call. He shows K7o for a pair on the flop turned into a bluff on the river. i'd note that he's able to turn a pair into a bluff on a drawy board. I'd add a couple question marks at the end of the note to signify that it's only been once i've seen such a play from this opponent. if i was to see the same type of play more times, i'd start taking away the question marks. This would demonstrate added confidence in my note for future games vs this opponent.

"2. against random oppo, no info about ranges of call etc etc, it is correct to push small pocket pairs - differences on Sb and BB? there is a mathematical approach for this play?"

Often, being very aggressive preflop with small pocket pairs is the optimal approach in shortstacked play. These pairs are unique due to their good relative equity vs opponent's ranges along with their difficulty to play postflop in many scenarios. For example, at 22bb, say you have a read your opponent is minraising 80ish% from the sb while only calling 25% of that range after we shove. By pushing pocket 2s over the minraise, you're opponent will fold a high % enabling us to take his 2 big blinds (along with our 1 big blind). You're also able to avoid seeing a flop with this less-playable hand. The added benefit from pushing a hand such as 22 preflop against this type of opponent is the equity you'll have vs an opponent's calling range. He'll occasionally be able to call a shove in such a situation, and pocket 2s has relatively good equity compared to a hand such as T3o. This hand is similar to pocket 2s in it's playability postflop, along with it's fold equity from a shove preflop. However, it's equity when your opponent calls will be much worse. I hope this helps.

"Ciao Sean,

thanks for the help.

I have one more question maybe you can also help me on this:

I found at microstakes a lot of oppo that mini bets always on all the street.

Do you have any suggestion on how exploit this way of play? can you develop your thinking progress?

Thanks a lot again!"

Hi Trikke,

If your opponent is mini betting all the time on all the streets, I have a couple suggestions.

1) Buy a stress ball.

2) Think of it as just an easier opportunity to figure out the strength of your range versus his range. Think about it - in this example, he's minbetting 100% of the time with 100% of his range. He's giving you a ton of information. Use this information to your advantage. Continue to raise with your relatively strong hands, bluff with hands you've deemed profitable vs such a strategy, and call with many combinations due to the great odds he's providing.