Yo,I'm primarily a 18-man specialist at Poker Stars ($indabank111). I've been grinding it out in Canada for the summer but I'm gonna have to play on Merge while I'm back at school during the year.I want to become a beast in HU sngs. I'm don't think I'm very good but am willing to work my ass off. I'll be starting off at the low-midstakes super turbos and hopefully moving up from there soon. Looking forward to discussing hands and developing a solid foundation to my game with all of you :]
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • Merge Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1350 BBPlayer21650 Effective Stacks: 27bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero calls 25, Player2 raises to 150, Hero calls 100 Flop (300, 2 players) Player2 checks, Hero bets 175, Player2 goes all-in 1500, Hero calls 1025 Turn (3000, 2 players, 1 all-in) River (3000, 2 players, 1 all-in) Final Pot: 3000 Hero shows Player2 shows Player2 wins 3000 ( won +1350 ) Hero lost -1350 K, so I'll try to explain my thought processes here. My openent seemed like a relatively aggresive player, min raising a lot, and 3-betting me a decent frequency as well. I limp rather than raise because I feel like it's a hand that plays well postflop, I don't really want to get 3-bet small and then call, and I'm comfortable calling a normal size raise in position against him. I can understand the merits of raising as well and tbh I'm not sure what the best play is pf.So he 3x's my limp, I obviously call, and then he checks back the flop. I feel betting is much better because we have decent equity when called etc. I bet a slightly larger amout (175) because it sets up us getting stacks in later in the hand better than a standard bet of 150.He then shoves all in over my bet. At the point I know I'm obviously beat the way the hand played out, but there's so much money in the middle that I feel like I should still call. My first instinct was to fold because his range is so strong here, but I ended up calling anyway.I did some rough pot odds calculations after my session and it looks like I need about 38% equity to breakeven. I did this by adding 300+175+175+1025=1675/1025. So I'm geting about 1.63-1 on my money. I then divided 1/2.63 to get my 38%.Against the range that I think he has (AA-88,55,AQ,KQ,QJ,QxTy,Qx9y,JxTy) I calculated I have 34% equity using propokertools. Therefore my intitial instinct that I should fold was correct :[Did I calculate everything correctly? This is my first time doing something like this so any pointers you have would be greatly appreciated.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBandrewjeepn1630 BTNHero1370 Effective Stacks: 27bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, andrewjeepn calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) andrewjeepn checks, Hero bets 90, andrewjeepn calls 90 Turn (380, 2 players) andrewjeepn checks, Hero bets 290, andrewjeepn calls 290 River (960, 2 players) andrewjeepn bets 1150, hero????????? This is one of the first hands so I'm basically readless. I feel like my open is standard.I've been experimenting with varying cbet sizes and seeing if my oppents react differently to them. I decide to fire 90 because I think accomplishes the same thing as betting 100. I also feel 90 looks scarier to a fish imo.He calls and I turn 2 pair. Now I need to figure out how to get max value. I put the majority of his range on flush/inside straight draws, along with some weak aces and stronger queens. I decide to make a larger sized bet of 290 to set up a river shove, as well to charge his draws the maximum without forcing them out. I think he's folding his queens out to this bet size, but will call with everything else.Then the diamond hits on the river. He thought for a couple seconds and shoved. I feel like he has to have a pretty strong range here. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do in these spots. I want to say screw it, I've got 2 pairs, and call. At the same time I feel like he can't have much of a bluffing range here :[
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNcheckra1seu1880 BBHero1120 Effective Stacks: 22bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BB checkra1seu raises to 100, Hero calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) Hero checks, checkra1seu bets 200, Hero raises to 425, checkra1seu goes all-in 1780, Hero calls 595 Turn (3000, 2 players, 1 all-in) River (3000, 2 players, 1 all-in) Final Pot: 3000I've played this guy a lot before. I had a note on him as being a fish and that he open shoved 107o for 20x bb before. I could have just reshoved the k7o profitably (I think??) because he's opening a lot. I feel like calling is more +ev because we're so deep.I flop mid pair and decide to check to him since my read was that he was fairly aggresive. He then bets pot, which I'm not really sure how to take. At the same time, If he's shoving 107o for 20x bb at times then logic kinda goes out the window against him imo. It's more of we have mid-pair against an idiot, we gotta get it in.I don't like my small re raise instead of just shoving. I did it in game because I was being trying to be fancy and keep the fish in with his bluff range, but I think there was enough in the pot to just go all in against his raise.Does his bet sizing change any way that you would have played the hand? I feel like it should polarize his range but I'm struggling to figure out exactly what hands would be in it. Thanks
67 hand:**Your comments in the OP are in bold. My comments are italicized underneath. I want to breakdown your thought process a bit.K, so I'll try to explain my thought processes here. My openent seemed like a relatively aggresive player, min raising a lot, and 3-betting me a decent frequency as well. I limp rather than raise because I feel like it's a hand that plays well postflop, I don't really want to get 3-bet small and then call, and I'm comfortable calling a normal size raise in position against him. I can understand the merits of raising as well and tbh I'm not sure what the best play is pf.Limping is fine. Versus this type of player who is playign al ot of hands and is 3betting a lot, we want to polarize our raising range between hands that can continue vs a 3bet - and hands that can minraise/fold easily (so like AK - and Q5o). Then limp hands that play well limped and can limp/call profitably in position (67s, QJ, J8s). This allows us to have a lot more hands in our preflop raising range that can continue vs a 3bet, so if villain doesnt adjust his frequency we should exploit him there. Also, people tend to play terribly passive/nitty in limped pots - even aggro players.So he 3x's my limp, I obviously call, and then he checks back the flop. I feel betting is much better because we have decent equity when called etc. I bet a slightly larger amout (175) because it sets up us getting stacks in later in the hand better than a standard bet of 150.Betting the flop is fine. We are betting because our hand has good equity, but also we are betting because we have fold equity. His check/calling range should be relatively weak, so we can consider barreling off on certain boards unimproved. A bigger size sets up stacks if you hit, but the bigger the size the more you encourage a c/r and for his range to play nitty/fast - which you do worse against. I would just bet 150 here, I don't want the pot too big - as I plan to barrel unimproved sometimes (and that will be harder to do the bigger the pot is).He then shoves all in over my bet. At the point I know I'm obviously beat the way the hand played out, but there's so much money in the middle that I feel like I should still call. My first instinct was to fold because his range is so strong here, but I ended up calling anyway.This is a simple mathematical decision (as you do below). Amount needed to call / Pot after you make the call. So in this case, 1025/2700 = 38%. Just a little more simplistic than you were doing I think. I did some rough pot odds calculations after my session and it looks like I need about 38% equity to breakeven. I did this by adding 300+175+175+1025=1675/1025. So I'm geting about 1.63-1 on my money. I then divided 1/2.63 to get my 38%.Against the range that I think he has (AA-88,55,AQ,KQ,QJ,QxTy,Qx9y,JxTy) I calculated I have 34% equity using propokertools. Therefore my intitial instinct that I should fold was correct :[Did I calculate everything correctly? This is my first time doing something like this so any pointers you have would be greatly appreciated. Just make sure you are considering more in the hand than "how to get stacks in if I hit". How will your betsize effect your ability to barrel unimproved on future streets? Will your bet encourage him to check/shove a little wider? If I get check/shoved do I have to call (we obv want to avoid that preferably)?But ya, I think the range you put him on is reasonable and seems like a fold to me. I think you can just do a little better in controlling how the hand plays out with your sizings.
Q6 hand:I wouldn't worry too much about varying your cbet sizes. Readless I cbet half pot on almost all boards...if I hit a wet flop hard and am playign a fish I will cbet bigger since I don't think it matters and they will respond the same as to half pot size. The problem with varying your sizes is you just create this epic leveling game with yourself, when cbetting half pot or so is perfectly fine. You have all this other stuff to think about, and readless you just dont know how villain views your sizing. In my experience, it's kind of a waste of thought process and not as useful as you would think. Worrying about all these wierd sizings also makes multi-tabling really difficult imo.Postflop looks good to me. I would snap-fold the river. The average player just doesnt take this line as a bluff. It's a flush just far too often. I see bluffs here sooooo rarely.
K7 hand:A lot of hands have +ev jamming expectation vs a wide opener, but they might have better flatting expectation. We want to choose the option that has the best expectation.Read more in Mers' article on bb play at 20 stx: http://www.husng.com/content/readless-ranges-what-do-20bb-deep-big-blind-against-unknown-opponentI don't like postflop. You mention that you "check to him because his aggressive"...this implies to me that you would be leading a decent amount of the time? I think this is a very poor hand to donkbet vs most people. It check/calls well. Doesn't get much value and plays terribly if raised when we donk. We need hands like this in our check/calling range, otherwise it's just too easy to barrel us 3 streets because we never have anything decent.I think most people are terrified of a small c/r and virtually never see it as a bluff on this type of board, especially when he cbets such a large size. At stacks any deeper than this I would flat and reevaluate turn. If you think he is ever cbet/folding this flop I would check/shove here to protect equity without much behind. My guess is that he has absolutely no air in his range here and you are flipping or behind everything. In my experience, when people randomly cbet full pot on a board like this - it is not with air and it's not with worse non-draw hands than K7. I actually just fold the flop tbh. If he continues a high frequency of these big cbets then I will start check/shoving or flatting depending on stacks.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBHero2450 BTNSamiStyle3333550 Effective Stacks: 11bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BB SamiStyle3333 calls 25 My reads are that this guy is a donk that doesn't like to fold much. I know that open-shoving against his limp is +ev. I feel like there is a more +ev play to be made. I open raise to somewhere between 175-200 and get it in on any flop. Obviously I check to him if I hit the flop strong in case he will bluff. I believe doing this allows him to call with a wide range of hands hoping to hit the flop. If I open-shove then he will fold out this range of hands that we play so well against with our hand. Which course of action do you think wins us more chips in the long run?
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBHero1525 BTNAlcateL001475 Effective Stacks: 30bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BB AlcateL00 raises to 100, Hero calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) Hero checks, AlcateL00 bets 100, Hero calls 100 Turn (400, 2 players) Hero checks, AlcateL00 checks River (400, 2 players) Hero bets 250, AlcateL00 goes all-in 1275 Reads are that he seems to be a aggresive and possibly thinking player. Definitely not a donk and more than capable of putting me into tough spots. Looking back post game I think I should have bet out on the turn to get value from all 10's, overpairs, and to charge any draws. I don't see him firing 2 barrels with air here and likely checks back all of his draws. Thoughts on my lead on river in the actual hand? I think I bet to much and that leading 175/fold to a raise is the best play.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1650 BBAlcateL001350 Effective Stacks: 27bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero calls 25, AlcateL00 raises to 150, Hero calls 100 Flop (300, 2 players) AlcateL00 bets 200, Hero calls 200 Turn (700, 2 players) AlcateL00 checks, Hero bets 325, AlcateL00 calls 325 River (1350, 2 players) AlcateL00 checks, Hero bets 975Same player as in the previous hand. He had started to 3b my min raises small frequently so I elected to start including a limping range to strengthing my min raising range. I float him on the flop because I feel like he won't be firing a 2nd barrel here light and I'm in position. If a spade came I was planning on double barreling him. The same goes for if he checked to me on turn. I've been trying to open up my game but I'm having a hard time knowing when I'm being spewy or if I'm making a good bluff.
@KQ:i play it the same, raising to 175ish and getting in on any flop. allows him to call worse.nice.
@K7def lead the turn. he is going to have a lot of hands that will check back this scary turn (it's a big part of your perceived c/c range) - lots of villains will even check back top pair here for 'pot control'....he will call a lead with a ton of these hands though 8X/9X/TX/QJ/KJ.even though our line is a little faceup by leading, it doesn't matter vs most opponents and they wont fold any hands in that range anyways. also, i think you rarely eliminate bluffs from his range by leading - since most players almost never bluff this board multiple streets anyways.river lead seems ok to me. i'm folding to a shove readless, almsot never see people show up with worse here. if they are going to make a crazy bluff, its usually not going to be after checking the previous street - decent generalization about the avg player.
@QT:I like your play a lot. you have a lot of credible bluffing opportunities here like you said (you even rep just flatting with JX well). i def expect villains to be playing the turn very fit or fold. that's not to say i would float total air here like 87, we have some added equity with the QT.nice hand.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • Merge Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1275 BB768hon1725 Effective Stacks: 26bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero calls 25, 768hon checks Flop (100, 2 players) 768hon checks, Hero bets 50, 768hon calls 50 Turn (200, 2 players) 768hon checks, Hero bets 125, 768hon calls 125 River (450, 2 players) 768hon checks, Hero bets 325 I don't have any reads on this player. I limp instead of raising because I had min-raised 3 times in a row and feel like he's going to play back against me soon. Not the best flop but I feel I have enough equity to stab with my crap straight draw/overcard. It's also the kind of board that randoms will call with all sorts of straight draws which I can exploit on later streets. A solid blank on the turn vs his perceived flatting range hits so elect to bet again. I think if someone was going to call 100 they'll call 125 as well so I bet a little larger than normal. The river blanks as well so I decide to fire a third barrel. I feel like I can fold out most middle/bottom pair hands, straight draws with an overcard that beat me, and most top pair/2pr hands would have raised me on either the flop or turn. I size it so that most of his hands that have showdown value against me arean't getting a very good price. If I had top pair I feel like a bet of 175-200 would be more optimal.
i would still raise pre. you don't have a hand that limps THAT well, and i think it's a mistake to assume that your opponent is going to play back without specific evidence that makes you believe that. don't play poker paranoid. be relentless and put pressure on people until they give you reason not to. even when people expand their 3bet shoving ranges a little bit, its often not enough to exploit a wide preflop raising range anyways.postflop looks really good. tons of marginal hands in range that cant face 3 streets.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • Merge Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNontiltcwp3941400 BBHero1600 Effective Stacks: 28bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BB ontiltcwp394 raises to 100, Hero calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) Hero bets 150, ontiltcwp394 calls 150 Turn (500, 2 players) Hero bets 275, ontiltcwp394 calls 275 River (1050, 2 players) Hero bets 1075 No specific reads on him. I feel like he won't be cbetting much on this board so elect to bet out. If he re raises me/reshoves it's a standard re shove/call right?After he just calls the flop I sense weakness so I feel like double barreling is best vs his perceived range.If I turn the flush do you like the same bet sizing to set up a river shove or would u prefer a more exploitable and smaller value size?
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • Merge Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBHero1400 BTNontiltcwp3941600 Effective Stacks: 28bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BB ontiltcwp394 raises to 100, Hero raises to 250, ontiltcwp394 calls 150 Flop (500, 2 players) Hero bets 275, ontiltcwp394 calls 275 Turn (1050, 2 players) Hero bets 875 This is against the same player in the previous hand. While I had just 3b on this table he called me down with AQo on the Q7s hand.If I had known he was calling down so light I would never had 3b a hand like this against him.Is it standard to b/f flop and if he smooth calls to shove turn even knowing how loose he'll call me down?
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • Merge Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBnickname4101750 BTNHero1250 Effective Stacks: 13bb Blinds 50/100 Pre-Flop (150, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 200, nickname410 raises to 300, Hero? Reads are that this player is a donk, hasn't been overly aggresive or passive, but defenitly has missed a lot spots.I prefer a min raise call over an open shove as a default pf. I'm shoving my unsuited lower aces but A6s is to strong imo.My experience is that when people make a min re raise like this it's almost always a strong hand. Something like a range of K10s+, A10+ 99+ KJo+. I feel like it's terrible to not get in in here math wise, but my gut is telling me to just flat and fold on most flops that don't hit me well.I hate the feeling of getting exploited, but maybe sometimes you need to make exploitable plays to maximize your own equity in the short run and simply adjust in future games. Thoughts?
I started to get confused on the most optimal way to play the guy who had called me down with AQo and I had 3b 25s against (ontiltcwp394) We know he's capable of calling down crazy light. Should I then cut down my opening range significantly, starting limping even more of my middling hand (like q8o, 107o, etc) and never bluff him?I feel like against players who will actually fold I can adjust easier because I have a better aproximation of their ranges and have more options post flop.Against a donk like this I find my self getting lost. Is it really correct to just nit it up with due to my perceived image and go to value town?
I've been doing my best to review my game, post hands, and analyze my play as much as possible. Yet even while I continue to do this I keep losing money.I've played poker professionally for over 3 years and am well aware just how sick variance can be. It's tough for me to admit it but I don't think I'm a good enough player to beat these games right now. I see all these HU super turbo players graphs on merge making great money while mine is the exact opposite. Here are my two lifetime graphs for my carbon sn(thecupshalffull) and my lock sn (moneyindabank111). I played on Carbon from May-June and moved to Lock in August.There must be something seriously wrong with my game for these two graphs to happen. I just can't seem to figure out what it is. I want to chalk up to to sick variance and keep playing my usual game, but it's at a point where I'm convinced I have some huge fundamental leaks that I'm not aware of. Here are my stats breakdown for both accounts. I filtered for only HU Super Turbo games. I'm not sure if the Ev numbers mean anything but it looks like I'm a profitable player chip wise on both accounts that has had a lot of negative variance.I don't want to console myself into thinking that I'm just running bad and not do anything to improve my game. I want to get better, I want to start making money again, and I'll do whatever work needs to be done to get there. I'd really appreciate some advice on where I should go from here to turn things around. Thanks
Q7 hand: I really like donkbetting this flop. You hand plays really well bet/3bet - and most villains will stack off a little lighter than they would vs a c/r. Also you take initiative away from and don't allow him to cbet a fit or fold range and realize equity for free with his marginal hands. Nice hand.52 hand: His calldown with AQ is kind of standard - you rep A TON more missed draws than you do actual value hands. I wouldn't fold AQ in his position either. If we are 3betting 52s it should be for preflop fold equity, not postflop fold equity (usually - obv if we find a villain that folds to a ton of 3bet pot cbets then that will change). I'd like him to be opening a decent amount pre, 70%+, and folding to a decent amount of 3bets. Postflop thought process sounds good to me. If we have to bet/fold the flop here, I'd probably cbet a little smaller like 40% so that we induce jams less often so we can realize equity on turn.A6 hand:Jam pre. A2-A7 suited or unsuited really do not induce that well vs a wide 3bet shoving range, and they continue very poorly postflop vs flatting ranges. Of course, if we are playing someone who never flats at these stacks and only 3bet shoves, then we have nothing to worry about from a flatting range and are better off minraise/calling. Wierd spot though. I actually don't think you will see a lot of AX hands, as I expect them to 3bet bigger or jam pre. Probably a lot of TT-AA. We can flat and play fit or fold on flops still versus that type of range. Don't get paranoid about being exploited. Everyone gets exploited. Me, Mers, etc. We play an exploitive style, so our opponents (often accidentally) will do things that will exploit us. We pay attention to what kind of hands are shown down and the frequency with which villains take different lines - so even if we get exploited a bit over the short term sometimes, we will adjust over the long term. When you are relatively readless and making plays based on reads on "the average player" (like assigning a super tight range to the min-3bet here), that is just an analysis of the range of the average player. Some villains will play very different, you just have to pay attention and adjust after establishing real reads based on showdowns/frequencies.
Q7s hand: So your saying that my lead/3-barrel was still the correct play or just my lead on the flop?Just to clarify, he called me down with AQ in the first hand I posted. The one where I led out with the Q7s flush draw. Not the hand where I 3b 52s. 52s: Okay I agree with that thought process. I've been finding that when I 3b small (blinds 25/50 he min raises on the DB I 3b to 250 out of the BB) I get flatted an extremely high percentage of the time. When I make is 275 or 300 people seem to flat wayyyyy less. My only worry is by 3-betting to a larger number I lose a lot of my postflop maneuverability and bloat the pot OOP. Thoughts on what the my sizing should be?I like betting the slightly smaller amount on the flop, well explained. A6: Yea agree with the open shove PF now. I've re read Mer's article on ROFL again and will work on incorporating those hand ranges into my game more. Yea I seem to still have a hard time letting go of being worried about getting exploited. I'll work on staying aware of what my opponent shows down with and finding the best way to adjust accordingly.
I started to get confused on the most optimal way to play the guy who had called me down with AQo and I had 3b 25s against(ontiltcwp394) We know he's capable of calling down crazy light. Should I then cut down my opening range significantly, starting limping even more of my middling hand (like q8o, 107o, etc) and never bluff him?I feel like against players who will actually fold I can adjust easier because I have a better aproximation of their ranges and have more options post flop.Against a donk like this I find my self getting lost. Is it really correct to just nit it up with due to my perceived image and go to value town?Think about this hand a bit more. He has a lot of reason to think his A high is good given how many missed draw combos there are. It's unlikely he's thinking on the same level as me, but very likely he is thinking on a more basic level of this same thought process.I might not try making huge bluffs versus him based on this, but I wouldn't shut down completely. Just don't bluff rivers when there are a lot of missed draws and valuetown him more on these boards.
That makes sense. I have a problem where if I get caught bluffing I feel like I should never bluff them again because I think they'll call me down with anything.When I've been making bluffs lately my thought process is I feel like he's weak here, there's a lot of draws, I'm going to keep betting. I think that I need to keep working on not just thinking about if he's weak or strong. I need to think about the specific range of hands he might have in accordance with the board texture and my bet sizing. Thoughts?
What do your EV graphs look like?Those are still pretty small sample sizes for ST's. It's hard to tell you much from those stats. Post more hands and questions. That's usually a good start for improving :)
HEM tracks all super turbos as an 11 dollar buy so I'm not sure how that affects these graphs. I think it's obvious that something is wrong with my play to have both of my redlines be so bad. I'll keep posting hands and trying to figure out exactly what that is.If my redline is so terrible does that mean that I'm bluffing to much and getting it in bad to often?
we can't be results-oriented about the AQ hand. i do think his calldown is correct and imo kind of standard, but the average player folds AQ somewhere in this hand most of the time - making our bluff +ev. we can't know that this villain will play his hand this way, we just adjust in the future.
it's very likely you are a loser in the games you are playing in based on your red-line results so far. it's also possible that you are just running unreal bad with setups too. i would post questions about HEM-results, variance, sample sizes in the Mers-only thread. he > me in explaining that type stuff.fwiw, if you are -ev right now, it's very +ev to realize it asap and just start working on improving. it shouldn't be too hard to increase your ROI a bit with a few adjustments from this forum.
I think that it's a combination of unreal setups and breakeven/bad plays by me. I'm not worried about how bad I've run anymore. I feel it doesn't matter in the long run of things. Even if I was supposed to be a breakeven player or even a marginal winner, it doesn't change what happened. What I can take away from this experience is that I'm as good as I could be right now. All that I need to care about is improving my game as much as possible through the help of this forum and by analyzing my own play.I'm finally at a point where I've let go of my poker ego when it comes to playing these games and am ready to learn as much as possible. Posting all those graphs and whining about how I don't know if I'm a winner does nothing to help me. Constantly working on my game until I become the best player I can be does.
Yeah, those EV-adjusted results are definitely not pretty. If you play games other than STs, I would recommend switching back to those until your late blind results start to get better. It's possible it's just a bad run but it's also very possible that your expectation really is rather negative right now.But as Hokie says, that's OK. And it's great that you're taking ego out of the equation. Super super important. Definitely post questions in the for-me thread as this month progresses. mers
I wish that I could :[ I'm living in the U.S. right now so I'm stuck playing on Merge or nothing. I appreciate your coming in, taking a look at my graphs, and giving me such candid advice.Looking forward to posting lots of questions for you this month :]
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1625 BBrjcj35701375 Effective Stacks: 28bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero goes all-in 1625Standard open shove even for 30 BB? I've been doing this for 22-55 and then min raising 66+ and getting it in.Whats you opinion on open limping AA/KK vs a random 30 BB deep as well as 15 BB deep? I think against more aggressive opponents we should min raising but against our more passive ones we should be limping. I'm not really sure which one is best readless though.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1150 BBthefpdoc1850 Effective Stacks: 23bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, thefpdoc calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) thefpdoc checks, Hero bets 100, thefpdoc calls 100 Turn (400, 2 players) thefpdoc checks, Hero bets 200, thefpdoc goes all-in 1650, Hero calls 750 Standard call, right? No specific reads on him. I feel like the only kings he reps are k4 and maybe K8-KJ. I would think he would have 3b AK/KQ pf and folded out K2-k3/K5-K6 on the flop. Most of the PP's he's flatting with pf are never CR shoving here as well as none of his 4's. So the main part of his range I would worry about would be a 7.So that means I think his range here is 7x, KK-AA he trapped with PF, some kx, some random flush draws he hit on the turn, as well as some percentage of bluffs. A check call flop, check raise turn is a very strong line to take on this type of board. Especially because most people would be scared of the King on the turn hitting my range unless they hit it or already had a set.Now I'm leaning towards a fold but in game I thought it was a super easy call.Is this the type of thinking I need to be doing for all the hands I play or am I over-analyzing?
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBJJStudent1700 BTNHero1300 Effective Stacks: 26bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, JJStudent calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) JJStudent checks, Hero bets 100, JJStudent calls 100 Turn (400, 2 players) JJStudent bets 250, Hero calls 250 River (900, 2 players) JJStudent bets 1250, Hero?No specific reads on opponent that I can remember.Do you prefer a smooth call on the turn on shove to get it in? Just calling lets all of his random bluffs stay in but I think most flush draws or pairs will still call my turn shove. A lot of scary rivers might change that. As played do you still call even with this being a pretty bad river card for our hand vs his range?
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNReacher61525 BBHero1475 Effective Stacks: 30bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BB Reacher6 raises to 100, Hero raises to 250, Reacher6 calls 150 Flop (500, 2 players) Hero?First hand of the game so no reads.One leak of mine that I think I found is that I've been smooth calling with my KJ/KQ hands here instead of 3betting for value. When I 3B I'm never folding to a shove right? How does my 3B sizing look to you?On this type of board I don't like a c-bet because I think it hits his range well. At the same time we have the initiative and if we bet half pot it only need to work 33% of the time for it to be effective right?I also think it's a bad board to cbet because there are so many cards that can come which give his straight draws a pair, or complete his flush draw, or give him his straight. I guess the idea I'm starting to arrive at is that we need to not just think about if c-betting will be a good move. We also need to think of if we're going to have good opportunities to double or triple barrel later on in the hand depending on the board texture. Thoughts?
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBthanksdude2200 BTNHero800 Effective Stacks: 16bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, thanksdude calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) thanksdude checks, Hero checks Turn (200, 2 players) thanksdude checks, Hero bets 100, thanksdude calls 100 River (400, 2 players) thanksdude checks, Hero bets 150, thanksdude raises to 675, Hero? H:30 PFR:37 VP:78 ST:57 are the only reads I have on himWould it be okay to limp this hand pf?On the flop I elect to check behind to disguise the strength of my hand and get value later in the hand. Looking back on it maybe I should have bet out instead. The only cards I was really scared of was a K or Q on the turn and there are only 8 of them in the deck. Which line do you like better?I feel like the turn is standard and then I bet a bit smaller on the river to try and get him to look me up with his random 9's and 2's or worse jacks. When he check raises me on the river he really doesn't rep much at all. All straight draws missed, all flush draws missed, and I would think he would cr the turn with a slowplayed ace becaue of all the possible flush/straight draws.The only hand that makes sense would be 95cc or 43 of clubs that beats me. All Jacks that beat me here are smooth calling the river imo. The rest of his range seems to be bluffs. At the same time my hand is much stronger than what my line represents so I think it's a call. I'm worried that I make to many hero calls so I'm hesitant to do so now :[
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNCruisinhayes650 BBHero2350 Effective Stacks: 3bb Blinds 100/200 Pre-Flop (300, 2 players) Hero is BB Cruisinhayes calls 100, Hero checks Flop (400, 2 players) Hero?My reads are that this guy limps a very large percentage of the time.I have no idea if I'm supposed to open jam the flop once I hit a pair or cf. My instinct is to open jam but I've always been to gun shy to do it most times.
Standard open shove even for 30 BB? I've been doing this for 22-55 and then min raising 66+ and getting it in.Whats you opinion on open limping AA/KK vs a random 30 BB deep as well as 15 BB deep? I think against more aggressive opponents we should min raising but against our more passive ones we should be limping. I'm not really sure which one is best readless though.looks good to me. if villain isn't flatting much oop i would minraise 44+. still jamming 22-33.really don't like limping AA/KK. the average player doesn't stack off wide in limped pots because they aren't invested. also, if we limp and our limp gets raised and we 3bet it just looks incredibly strong. i would much rather minraise/flat a 3bet or minraise/4bet if villain is really spewy. most people are playing 45%+ of their total hands oop, that is a good amount of hands and a lot of value for us to be raising our AA/KK.
TT hand: it's funny but i would snap a turn check/jam and insta-fold to a small turn c/r. the population tendancy for check/jamming in this spot is def with a wider range than a small c/r, so TT will be doing a lot better against that. it's hard to put much KX in villains range but i'm sure he can have some (K4, KT type floats) - he could also be jamming 4X that he flatted flop with and feels uncomfortable to flat another street with relatively committed stack:pot ratio (doesnt want to give you equity on river). 58/56 type stuff can be spazzing some too. you only need to be good like 30-35% on your call, so i'm not folding. kind of close though.KQ:i think you can definitely 3bet/fold to a jam this deep (and with your sizing, its not committing and i dont expect people to ship light over it). i would never be 3bet/folding KQ/KJ 23/24 bb deep and shorter though. i would check/fold this flop. you have card removal to his KJ/QT/KT combos that you get folds from, so unless he's calling really wide his range is pretty much all over this board. your thoughts on cbetting are good. just remember that you 3bet pre because you dominate his preflop calling range and continue well against that range postflop, not because you can profitably cbet any board. it's kind of similar to when we 3bet bluff someone with 74s and we get flatted and see a QJ9 flop - we just need to give up and remember that we 3bet pre for fold equity, not because cbetting all boards is +ev.JT:what is his 3bet %? if its high a limp is good, otherwise just minraise bc playing a 4bb pot with JTo is > playing a 2bb pot with JTo :). also, when we limp we give his trash hands that would otherwise fold to a raise a chance to realize their equity for free!flop is definitely a cbet imo. i hate giving up free equity, esp when it's hard to imagine someone really spazzing that hard on a board like this. i think for the few times u get people to spaz by doing this, more often you give free equity to KX/QX/gutshots and get pwned.i'm really tempted to call river, not a lot makes sense. i probably don't fold tbh.63s: you picked up decent equity 3.25 bb deep vs a wide undefined range. really, really standard jam imo.
KQ: "Just remember that you 3bet pre because you dominate his preflop calling range and continue well against that range postflop, not because you can profitably cbet any board. it's kind of similar to when we 3bet bluff someone with 74s and we get flatted and see a QJ9 flop - we just need to give up and remember that we 3bet pre for fold equity, not because cbetting all boards is +ev."You writing things like this helps my level of understanding of the why behind "standard plays" immensely. Thank you. JT: I had his 3B at 16.7 over 29 hands. It seems a lil on the high side so that must have been why I decided to limp instead of raise pf. Min raise is def standard in most situations.I agree that checking back was a mistake. I have a tendency to get fancy and complicate things. I just gotta keep telling myself that it's okay to play by the book and be exploitable when playing randoms :]
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1450 BBblufferwatchout1550 Effective Stacks: 29bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, blufferwatchout raises to 150, Hero calls 50 Flop (300, 2 players) blufferwatchout bets 200, Hero calls 200 Turn (700, 2 players) blufferwatchout checks, Hero bets 250, blufferwatchout calls 250 River (1200, 2 players) blufferwatchout bets 950, Hero?H: 28 PFR:20 VP:64 ST:29On the flop I smooth call to induce bluffs to continue/don't think I'm going to get much value by raising.I bet smaller on the turn to set up a river for value as well as to keep building the pot vs his qx hands. I want to be sure that I'm atleast charging his random flush draws and straight draws some chips to try to hitOn the river I think it's a fold when he shoves. The flush hits, AJ makes a straight, he's never shoving a Queen there as a bluff, he could have a hand like A5o that he played tricky. The only hand I beat are bluffs (which should be a very small % of his range) and I chop with most other kings.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBHero1450 BTNRookeyBoy1550 Effective Stacks: 15bb Blinds 50/100 Pre-Flop (150, 2 players) Hero is BB RookeyBoy calls 50, Hero checks Flop (200, 2 players) Hero should?As played it went Hero checks, RookeyBoy bets 100, Hero goes all-in 1350H: 18 PFR:31 VP:81 With stats like this I expect the flop to connect with him in some way and he should be betting often when checked to. In game I thought CR shove was the best play. If the flop gets checked through your betting most turns?What do you think about instead of CR AI just raising to about 425-450 and shoving most turns. I feel that this lets him call with his straight draws/5's that he would fold to a shove. By raising smaller we still charge him a price that loses him chips but we maximize our edge by letting him make as many mistake as possible on both the flop and turn.Or I could just be over thinking the situation yet again ;]
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1300 BBAZinkeA1700 Effective Stacks: 26bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, AZinkeA raises to 300, Hero calls 200 Flop (600, 2 players) AZinkeA checks, Hero checks Turn (600, 2 players) AZinkeA checks, Hero checks River (600, 2 players) AZinkeA checks, Hero bets 200 Pf call is okay right? I don't think he's folding to my bet on the flop because I can't really rep anything. At the same time him checking a 3 spade board to me screams weakness and I want to try to take the pot away from him. I'm really torn between the two lines of thinking.On the turn I'd be repping even less of anything so I check again. On the river I try to make my bet just small enough to entice his ace highs to call me down but not to big to scare them off.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBthanksdude1600 BTNHero1400 Effective Stacks: 28bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, thanksdude calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) thanksdude checks, Hero checks Turn (200, 2 players) thanksdude bets 150, Hero calls 150 River (500, 2 players) thanksdude checks, Hero bets 175, thanksdude raises to 812, Hero? H: 86 PRF:38 VP:77 St: 61 My initial impression of him was that he was aggressive but hadn't gotten out of line yet.I'm in the middle between thinking I should have Cbet or not. I think the flop is pretty wet but I hate giving all the hands that he calls with pf a free card to pick up a pair.Snap fold the river here right? I don't think he'd ever CR an ace, he could have a strangely played flush/straight, and I don't think most people would ever CR bluff this board vs a turn call/river bet.
Bumpity Bump
K7: Nice hand. Bluffs on this river make no sense, pretty easy fold vs most imo.K6dd: I just lead flop and bet/3bet. When we check we give him free 15%ish equity with his air, all him to check back some gutshots and bottom pair type stuff maybe that will always call a lead. Also the range he calls a check/jam with we're prob only like 50% against, meh.QT: Looks really standard to me. Vs a thinking player with a really weak checking range on this board (most imo), I would stab this flop like 40% pot. You will get a ton of folds.A8: I'd need some pretty good reads to call river. Would probably cbet flop though - I think a checkback is great if ur getting c/r a lot, but my thought process is basically I want my opponent to prove to me he's aggro enough for me to do that. I'm going to assume everyone doesn't play back enough until they show me otherwise - I think that's a fair approach to the average player/reg.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BByami777aces1700 BTNHero1300 Effective Stacks: 26bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, yami777aces calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) yami777aces checks, Hero bets 100, yami777aces calls 100 Turn (400, 2 players) yami777aces checks, Hero bets 150, yami777aces raises to 300, Hero? H: 22 PFR:47 VP: 89 Total donk he min raised/called j4o from the db vs my 30x bb re shove lol.I think vs a jam I lean more towards a call here but his min raise feels strong to me so I folded. You okay with calling the turn and then folding most rivers if he bets again? I don't think that most donks are firing 2 barrels here.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNHero1500 BBShustrila131500 Effective Stacks: 30bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, Shustrila13 calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) Shustrila13 checks, Hero bets 100, Shustrila13 raises to 350, Hero?First hand so no reads on him.Flat and see what the turn brings or get it in on the flop were my initial thoughts. I almost wanna fold vs this raise size. I think vs a 250 raise I'd feel comfortable with a flat. 350 makes me think his hands are more weighted towards value and much less towards bluffs/semibluffs. So even if we hit out 8 or 10 I wouldn't feel like I would be able to continue vs aggression on later streets.
67s: I'm betting the turn bigger, about t225. Villain is calling a ton oop, so has tons of 5x/gutshot type stuff in his range and we know he's not folding that :). I just fold to the turn check/minraise. Like you, I respect it a ton, but I don't think many villains shut down on the river nearly often enough for a call to be good. Also, our 3 7 outs might not even be good.T8s: This is such a wierd board for a c/r vs T8. It has too much equity for us to checkback on the flop, and way too much equity for us to juts fold to the c/r too. Cbet is really standard here and I'm not folding to a c/r. The problem though is that we are doing really poorly vs the overcard+flush draw combos. There aren't many boards where I prefer this at these stack sizes, but I actually like a min-cbet on this board - I think villains flat it wider so we get more value out of barreling them (this is still true when we cbet t100). The difference bt t50 and t100 on this board though is that I think the smaller size gets spaz c/r'd a bit more, so we can bet/3bet more comfortably against a big sizing - or our smaller size will encourage villains c/r sizing to be smaller and we created better stack depth to be able to flat and continue on the turn and river. Most villains will make the mistake with their c/r sizing here of just c/r 3x the size of your bet to t150 or so - a pretty big fundamental mistake. The merits of mincbetting here are such a great example of thinking outside the box and being creative in situations that don't come up that often. Hands that I can fold to a c/r with or bet/3bet I would cbet normal on this board.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBBikeMbrady1600 BTNHero1400 Effective Stacks: 28bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BTN Hero raises to 100, BikeMbrady calls 50 Flop (200, 2 players) BikeMbrady checks, Hero bets 125, BikeMbrady calls 125 Turn (450, 2 players) BikeMbrady checks, Hero checks River (450, 2 players) BikeMbrady checks, Hero bets 325, BikeMbrady goes all-in 1375, Hero?This guy is a very good thinking reg who loves to sit me. We have been playing very aggressive both preflop and postflop. There has also been a lot of 3 betting pre,Stats are H:716 VPIP: 68.4 PFR: 58.2 3B:28.6Flop is standard (even though I know you'll say I should just bet 100 :] ). Turn I think should have bet given the texture of the board and our aggressive dynamic. River is where it gets fun. I value bet large because he's called me down before with that same aprox. sizing where I've shown down a bluff. Then he shoves the river. I'd say his range here is flopped flushes, busted flush draws, and busted straight draws. Any medium strength hand here he's just smooth calling and never turning it into a bluff imo. I'm getting such good odds that I think it's a call given the history we have, and the fact that I don't think he's the type of player to slowplay a flush here.
No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BTNDridge1251500 BBHero1500 Effective Stacks: 30bb Blinds 25/50 Pre-Flop (75, 2 players) Hero is BB Dridge125 raises to 100, Hero raises to 250, Dridge125 calls 150 Flop (500, 2 players) Hero bets 1250 8th hand of the match, no reads on the guy. What do you think about the overshove here? There's already so much in the pot, I have decent equity vs most hands if called, and I don't think I'm going to get any opportunities to outplay him oop on this type of board.
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