Hi Guys,I have been playing poker for years however I have never really taken the game as seriously as I want to now.. I consider myself a losing player however I drastically want to turn this around (shown by the fact this is my first post ever on any poker site) and therefore have been browsing the site (and others) since I got back into the game a couple of months ago.I have watched the free videos and am thinking about becoming a member however I am not sure if just watching videos will help me improve what I need to. I seem to really struggle to grasp the concept of putting people on ranges (with any accuracy), my equity, taking +EV lines and generally playing my games based on feel more than anything else.I have definitely improved my game somewhat by watching videos (not only on this site but other sites aswell) but feel like I really need to be pointed in the right direction on where I can find some beginner type material on how to study effectively.Also, the variance on stars is killing me and I seem to really fluctuate (playing $15's & $30s) as I can't seem to beat these levels due to all the suckouts that keep happening.. But I don't want to get into a rant about that.. I just want to focus on improveing my overall game.I know this post is a little vague but I guess I am not sure exactly where to start so If any of you guys have any info, are able to point me in the right direction or have overcome similar issues, it would be great to hear from you.P.S. I currently have a $500 BR on Stars and do not really want to play anything less than $15's (unless I have to) as I find it hard to get motivated to play less than that level.P.P.S In the few months I have been back I have turned that BR into $1400 and then back down again.. Just keeps fluctuating and it really frustrates me.Thanks.
watching videos will improve your game but you need to watch them actively. it should take you 2 to 3 time the lengh of the video to watch it properly. As for hand reading, a good training is to filter your hand in your tracker for "known Hole cards" and replay some hands trying to put your opponent on a hand range and see at the end how right or wrong you were. Practice that a bit every day and your hand reading will improve a lot.You can also download equilab for free, it comes with an equity trainer. It's well worth messing around with it 10 min a day.good luck
and this also http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/101/coaching-advice/systematic-trainin...
Thanks Genher - I was looking for something like the above link. Much appreciated!I also have a question in regards to what Mers refers to in his e-Book as the Population Tendancy. How would I be working out what the range of the general population plays in in certain spots? Is this something that I need to figure out or is it something which has been done already and I should be using?The way I generally put villain on a range PreFlop is look at my HEM stats for the player and use that. E.g if his VPIP in the BB is 50%, I look at the 50% range in stove and go from there.Is this correct way on putting villain on a range pre flop?
Population tendencies are not something that we use versus a known but only versus an unknown opponent. It is what your readless strategy is based on. If you have a big enough data base you can make asumption like us that the avg. opponent would open 37%, limp with 2gpsc 97s+, and does 3bet range X. Once you know that your opponent does open 42% and 3bets with 12% you do forget about the population tendencies, because they are not accurate for the known opponent.Please also keep in mind that the 50% your opponent uses might not be the same 50% that pokerstove will show you. There are many players that would call with big hands (AK, KK, AA) and 3bet with sc for example. If you figure out that it is like that, you need to make notes about it.
Hi.
Thanks for your reponse Barrin. Another great reply as always.So to take the 50% example further then.. Lets say villain has the tendancy to flat with AK, KK, AA, would it just be a matter of removing those from the 3bet range that stove gives me and add other combos I think he/she may be 3bet with? I just really struggle doing this on the fly during games and feel overwhelmed with all the information I need to look for and calculate.Or is there another way you would recommend learning the ranges?
Of course you need to learn putting your opponent on the *correct* range. As a default you might wanna asume that a 12% 3bet range is top heavy. That is for a couple of reasons:1) the range is stronger and therefore your counter-range will require more equity to 4bet / call the 3bet.2) it is the more common approach.You shall fine tune the range once you have specific reads = you actually saw your opponent cold call with AKs rather than 3bet it.However; if you take a look at a limping range, you might wanna use a different approach, simply because it is much wider. It seems way more likely that his 50% open-limping-range is according to playability, meaning that your opponent is likely to favour open-limping a hand like 76s or 64s over J5s. If he is very short and has to open push he might favour J5s over 64s because playability is not an important element anymore (since you push all in or fold anyways).
Hi.
Thanks Barrin.I have just done a couple of calcs using HEM/Pokerstove, but I am not sure I am doing correctly. I have assigned the range based on my stats of the player and removed the cards I think he/she 3bets with. I think tried to remove cards I didn't think villain would continue with on each street and had a final range which his actual cards fell in with. However, I am not sure if my range was too wide as I had the opponent left with 24% of his range on the river.I am wondering if I could maybe paste a Hand to review and you could maybe take me through your thought process of putting the villain on a range? ***** Hand History for Game 1111111111 ***** (Poker Stars)Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 10, 10:14:11 ET 2012Table 599015347 1 (Real Money)Seat 2 is the buttonSeat 1: Player1 ( $1475.00 USD ) - VPIP: 52, PFR: 28, 3B: 9, AF: 1.4, Hands: 284Seat 2: Hero ( $1525.00 USD ) - VPIP: 57, PFR: 43, 3B: 23, AF: 2.7, Hands: 43129Hero posts small blind [$15.00 USD].Player1 posts big blind [$30.00 USD].** Dealing down cards **Dealt to Hero [ 8c 6c ]Hero raises [$75.00 USD]Player1 calls [$60.00 USD]** Dealing Flop ** [ 4c, Th, 7d ]Player1 bets [$60.00 USD]Hero calls [$60.00 USD]** Dealing Turn ** [ Js ]Player1 bets [$90.00 USD]Hero calls [$90.00 USD]** Dealing River ** [ 5d ]Player1 bets [$240.00 USD]Hero raises [$1285.00 USD]Player1 calls [$995.00 USD][spoiler]Hero wins $50.00 USDHero shows [8c, 6c ]Player1 shows [9c, 8h ]Player1 wins $2950.00 USD from main pot[/spoiler]
I believe it would make much more sense if you would:1) not write down the result (also not in a spoiler)2) post the hand in the hand evaluation forum3) post YOUR toughts along with it--> You have played nearly 300 hands against him, so you should have some idea about what is an essential part of his style or not.His range seems to be very wide. We are deep and so he will play lots of playable hands. His range will include Q9s, just as likely as suited connectors and one-gape-suited connectors, as well as high non-suited connectors.The first impression: he does not 3bet. With a 9% 3bet size this removes TT from his range (w/o haveing any further reads and notes), which makes a top set unlikely on the flop. Please note: even if your sample size isn't really big, this is pretty accurate since TT is in the top 3% of hands. . The first thing that is strange about this hand is: he leads the flop. This is something players usually do if they wish to start building the pot, so you might wanna put him on a draw or a strong hand (maybe top pair with backdoor-draws). Anyways. You have 8 outs to a straight and ofc backdoor-fd-outs, are in position and are deep, so you want to call on the flop.The turn is really bad for us: our backdoor-flush-draw goes away and our chance to make a straight to the river are cut in half. Also, if their comes a 9 we are (at best) splitting the pot with every 8. He leads again but he does lead very small.......wich seems wired on such a draw heavy board. With what would he lead like that? Without any further reads, I would suggest that you are in trouble unless you complete your straight on the river. You are not getting the correct pot odds to call, so you have to ask yourself if you have enough implied odds. As played: on the river - somehow you need to bring all your money in the middle, because otherwise you cannot generate the mandatory implied odds. Your problem is the follwing: you do have the worst possible straight and the question is: what shall he call your all in raise with? Most opponents wont call it with 2nd Pair (T)....maybe some will call it with twopair (JT). Of course 86 will call you and then there is 98 that is calling you all hands that might are in his range.
Hi.
Thanks for the heads up and I apologise for posting it here but I wasn't sure if it would be ok or not. Thanks again for replying with your thoughts anyway.So guess it seems like fairly standard play from my end until the turn. Would you suggest that I fold the hand at this point even considering I am getting 5.5:1 pot odds? These are the spots that I struggle with I think.Did I play the hand badly on the river - Should I have just called?Edit: Guys, I would also welcome any other points of view or conversation related to my original post. Thanks.