Nice video garret and a big improvement from the last one. To just pick one of the hands...

Hand#1

On that A22r flop if you are opening 75% of buttons (900hands) then  you have toppair or better here ~19% of the time. Naturally I think checking some % with our weakest Ax has a lot of merit too since this board has a lot of lockdown equity and there is value gained in protecting our non Ax hands on future streets. I am sure you know this so zzzz.

Chopped pots are always interesting.  Whoever is sitting with 10k might not want to call down vs. you in a marginal spot for what he considers a best case scenario a chop. Also noteworthy, besides all 2x combos you can have 1 combo of AA that he has to worry about.

If you actually have 2x/AA and want to get called. You are using what sizing?

If you are going for bluffing him off a chop. You are 1.3x turn so there is $3400 pot on river with ~8.3k stacks left. 

Obviously going to depend a lot on how we think SB is going to react. Online with smaller player pools you probably want to be consistent with how you are approaching these situations but live I mean any sense of balance should be thrown right out the window. BTW, I think spencer is going to shipp but I could be wrong, :). cheers.

considering what we want to do with our range on the turn vs a strongish sb range (very few floats with 1 players left to act on the flop), what bluffs would you have in your overbet range on the turn? Or is it not necessary to balance in these spots? 

I just feel if we want to over bet at any street, its better to do it on the river. Half potting the turn and over bet the river off a bigger chopped pot. Half potting turn is also enough to fold out most of opponents non-A pairs with our bluffs.

Fwiw I think on 22Ar2

...I could not think more of a textbook bad spot to pure bluff.  Unless you think with max pressure and deep stacks that he will fold his entire range by the river but for times you are wrong you ran a very expensive and bad bluff. So i wouldnt put much stock in having a bluffing range on turn. 

dont say so much "right", right?

Thanks for the follow up. My recommendation if you make future vids is to get some nl hu content from you. I think sprinkling in a few live videos is good but as you mentioned there are like a million different variables that go into live poker decisions and simply typing out/explaining it can get tiresome while online analysis is so much more precise (and imo more valuable to extrapolate from the known facts). Brian Rast kind of followed same progression and made his macau series and then reviewed some online hands.

Not sure if you are playing much online these days since word on the street is you are now a miserable livepro (joke) but online is like riding a bike and it makes for some great content. Good NL hu content is kind of scarce on this site and either 1)review a member 2)play yourself. just my 2c and you can obv. do whatever you want. cheers.

You refer to your crazy image a lot which seems to get you paid when you have value hands, eg fish shipping 44 is quite comical.

can you give some information on why you have this image. do you have high vpip, high bareling frequencies etc. It seems to have this crazy image you must be losing $$ in a lot of spots and compensating for it in others?

Good stuff.

Quick question about playing with the 'good players with bad players in the mix' dynamic:

when u have 54cc on 773 and you xr the 'solid white player' on the btn with the fish left to act, shouldnt that be a bit of a red flag for the btn that u might be messing around?  I mean, wouldnt you want to do whatever it takes to keep the fish in the pot with a big hand?

I know that when I'm playing a good, thinking reg and I iso a mega-fish and the reg bombs it (esp when he has pos on both of us) I think its a bluff a huge % of the time.  He'd CC to keep the fish in with his monsters.

Do you feel the same concept applies here?  ESP since it comes up so often in your games when there are so many very strong and very weak players playing together.

more live poker videos where there is more dynamics and multiway pots. I think thats where online players lack experience in which you can help. 

great video

I'm a live pro and really enjoyed this video and hearing ur thought process on each hand played. There's not much content for live nl games especially at these stakes so for me it's a real treat. An interesting video maybe for you to go through an entire session of hands in order regardless of it's just a fold pre flop etc so we can get a feel of game flow as well as basic decisions you may take for granted because it seems boring. Nice work and looking forward to future videos!

why would you say 1/2 pot cbets optimal? I see a lot of live players 1/2
pot cbet. Is it because of pots being multiway and we will have a more
value heavy cbet range?

I prefer smaller c-bets because:

a) my range is weaker, thus I'm less excited about getting money in the pot in general.  Note I will use the same sizing irrelevant of my specific hand strength on any one particular flop.

b) Against many players on many board textures, the way they respond to that c-bet makes their hand pretty face up.  In general the information you receive in live NL when you have the right image is often highly reliable, even against mostly competent opponents.

c) Against other, usually even weaker players, they will peel the flop super light for a variety of reasons, but in part because it's cheap.  But if I double barrel the turn, they need to have near the very top of their range to continue.  It's a wildly profitbale spot for me to fire w/ 2 cards against this player typre.

Hey Garrett,

We've played together a couple times live (Commerce 10/20) and I agree that you do a great job of building your "image."  Also agree that to a large degree your image is well earned.  

I'm definitely a live player these days as well so perhaps I'm not really the target audience for your videos if you're focused more on transitioning players from online to live.  Personally however I felt like most of the spots you got into in this video seemed relatively straightforward to me.  (I could definitely see where they would have value in demonstrating adjustments live).

When I first started playing live I played a very very lag style more similar to yours.  However over time I've come to believe that the extra increase in win rate in most games isn't really worth the added variance, and the extra "risk" you take on when it comes to tilting, etc.  The line between tilting/spewing and "playing super lag" is much thinner than the line between playing "Good Tag" and spewing.

What would really interest me from you is more in-depth explanations of spots that you find it profitable to really amp up your VPIP, how drastically you're loosening up to respond to different factors, and how you deal with (if you adjust at all) to having good players at your table.  I'll acknowledge that there really are no "good" regs at the Commerce 10/20, but I imagine you have to encounter them from time to time in bigger games.

I suppose to summarize (this post got long fast), what I'd really like to see is more detailed and high level explanations of why/how exactly you do what YOU do specifically, and why you feel it's better than playing a more traditional TAG style pre flop with advanced post flop play.  How deep do you think you need to be to make this strategy profitable?  etc.  Basically just go into more of the secret workings of the Garrett show ;)

Thanks!  Also I'm sure you're wondering who I am, we played together once in the last two weeks or so when you got coolered by the quad KK and Moe was doing his "countdown to busto" analysis of you.  Hope you did well the other day in that big HU game!

in the JTXcc hand where u had QQ. when checked to, if he was bluffing, wouldn't he be putting you mostly on AK/AQ, Tx, so when the K comes and he keeps firing seems pretty value heavy to me. His sizing seems valuey as well as ppl generally bluff for larger sizings right? i mean if were winning it seems he probably value cutting himself with AJ?

I would be interested in hearing some things you do at the table during the "down time," like you mentioned you generally play back hands with differing variables and gain value from that. Maybe some examples of hands and showdowns and how you use them to gain insight into the best strategy to use against the table. 

I thought it was funny that you said that the 336K6 hand was maybe one of the most interesting hands youve played recently bc when you said that i was expecting river fireworks and instead it checked thru -.- lol nice slow roll Gman. wpwp

Cool vid- a few comments/questions:

1) 34suited on 336hh- while there is obviously a merit into keeping in the fish with 1000bb effective stacks in the hand and disguising our actual hand against the blaster on the button- if he is a player with a lot of live experience (who recognizes the importance in keeping in the fish) and is not gun shy at these stakes, I think there is more value in CRing the flop against this type of player.  This is a board where he should be fighting back a lot and given your reputation as well as many leveling factors (he knows that you know this is a flop hes cbetting 100%, he thinks you may just flat call w big hands to keep the fish in etc) I think it's just more profitable to CR and let him spaz/get value now.  I think fish open limping cutoff and villain isoing on button and you calling in BB creates a more aggro/sticky dynamic once you take this line.  Also, it's not like the fish is going to folds overpairs to the board or two overs and flush draw/nut flush draw to your CR.  

As played, I do agree that river is a clear lead...also what was your plan if button bet the river? were you just calling or CR?

2) QQ on J10xcc- don't really understand your decision to take the check calling line against this specific villain.  Normally, youd want to take this line against a) super aggro players who'd make youre life hell by playing back at these boards when deep and w/position. b) guys who give check calling line no credit and go completely ballistic on any runout.  

Im sure you know live pros (even good/solid/winning ones) love to take showdown so I think we just miss a lot of value by adding this to our check call line.  As played, Im not sure what we beat on this runout and when this type of villain bets all three streets.  Unless you think his value range is only flushes (villain should be betting all 2 pair+) What did he have if you don't mind sharing?

I agree with your points that many live pros are incapable of 3 barreling esp against a villain like yourself.  I also agree that if we take something like AA and take this check calling line as the initial 3bettor, it doesnt mean we close our eyes and call down on any runout since we "underrepped" our hand.  But I feel like you are going against your beliefs by calling with QQ in this spot. 

3) J2suited on button- seems like a better hand to 3bet on button and continue to "build our image" rather than call and play a 4 way pot.  Although I guess having button is good enough for us to play this hand- would you be more willing to 3bet if you were in LJ/HJ/CU? 

Great stuff- really enjoyed the content.  I think itll be cool/entertaining if you shared big pots you were bluffing and got caught/got away with it :)

Ah you don't know how close I was to betting all the chips! (hand 2) ;)

Hand 1; what's your plan if you get c/r on the turn? Are you just going to call down or 3 bet to try and take down a chopped pot?

Hey, played 10/20 with you once awhile ago. Fun table presence and the tuna salad you ordered (tomato, onion, fresh jalapeno, lime juice) has become my standard.

Anyway. One comment and one question...

Comment: You said something about trying to be more abstract to make the videos more applicable for a wide range of players. I think you should do the opposite - get as specific as you can! It seems like what you're really good at is exploiting each opponent's weaknesses, and that's all about specifics. So I do want to hear about the way his hand moved that made you think he was weak, his bet sizing tell on the turn, etc. etc. Over time, we'll get a good feel for your thought process in a more abstract sense.

Question: The LAG/maniac style you advocate is sexy, no question, but is it advisable/realistic for someone who's not already a superstar to try to play this way? It's a long, treacherous road from midstakes grinder to high stakes psycho crusher. Do you think a capable, thinking midstakes TAG would be well served to go down this road? And if so, what's the first step?

Hi Garrett,

Good video. My advice would be to make fewer self deprecating comments and accept that you are not perfect. The occasional rambling tangent is fine. Sometimes instructors spit out real gems when they ramble a bit. But when you frequently apologize it just takes away from your perceived credibility as an instructor. I think I can speak for the masses when I say you make a valuable contribution to the site and I look forward to viewing more live poker videos from you. 

Several times you dance around the topic of live tells, saying you were confident about your read "because of how they were acting" or "because of their body language". Can you please dedicate a live poker video (or even a series of videos) to the various live poker tells you still see in the bigger games? What do you look for the most? Which tells are the most universal and the most reliable? I know it can be difficult to express in words how we "sense" strength or weakness sometimes because our emotional brains are processing information our logical brains cannot yet articulate. But after close scrutiny, there is always something specific to point to even if it's as subtle as an averting glance of the eyeballs that lasts only a microsecond, or a slight tension in the neck and shoulders that wasn't there before they flipped over the nuts the last time they bet pot on the river. The area I have the most room for improvement is identifying when my opponent really doesn't want to see a big bet from me on the turn or river. Or conversely, aborting the big bluff when they do want me to bet. Currently I just focus on doing my best not to give off any tells of my own in such situations, and I save my "soul reading" for situations when my opponent is the aggressor.

I realize this site is mostly about online poker but I am a live pro and tells are obviously a huge part of the game. Even at higher stakes games, we can sometimes narrow people's ranges significantly based on how they are acting. And often times, physical tells can be established sooner than we can make accurate inferences about their ranges and frequencies. Especially in river situations since live poker is so slow and we rarely see showdowns in big pots at 5/10nl and higher. I feel like there is currently very limited quality content out there about tells but I am hopeful that you can change that.

First, this series is a great contribution to RIO. Great that Phil got you signed and great that you accepted.

I have a lot of questions.. As a an online player (played millions of hands) I've been testing some cash games at my local casino. I haven't even played 100h live yet but here are some really beginners questions about things I'm wondering about..

- What physical reads/tells are most common? Is it true that the most common type is classical strong acting (bad hands) weak acting (good hands)? The only real tell I've been able to spot so far are the inexperienced players who start trembling and shaking when they have a strong hand. Would really like to get better at this. Do you often look players in the eyes in hands? Maybe a strange question but I feel that people often can see right through me if I look at them so I typically just look at the table and then I feel I miss out a lot.

- I often get exhausted after just a few hours of live play due to all my senses being bombarded with information. I kind of find this ironic since I can play a whole day straight of online play without a sweat but at the casino I'm mentally drained after a short period of time. I'm assuming this is something that can and will get better with expereince? Did you have the same problem in the beginning?

- How long sessions do you typically play?

- At my casino the games usually play between 200-500bb deep. It is somewhat common that people straddle. What are your thoughts on this? I would think that if you are playing in a juicy game (which my games usually are) then it's to your benefit to post the straddle just to get the games to play higher?

- I'd like a video about how you feel your ranges change when playing extremely deep. I know suited aces go up and value etc. but I'm more thinking about post flop ranges. When I'm playing 500bb deep I'm almost scared of playing hands that I'd be felting in a heart beat 100bb deep (Like overpairs). I feel this is a problem for me since if opponents play back at me I'm folding too often in some situations.

- What is a decent win rate live? I read here in another thread that something between 10-15bb/h is decent. Do you think it's possible to obtain much higher winrates than this? I'm currently at 26bb/h but it's a small sample obviously. With a lot of straddles though you are effectively playing twice as high so a double winrate should be possible? Given that you play so few hands per hour even after a year of full time play you can't be that certain about your winrate so perhaps you really shouldn't focus too much on it? 

Lastly I'd like to say to everyone reading this who haven't tried live out, do! It's a great mix to the online grind and it's nice to get out and meet some real poker players. So far I've been liking my few live sessions more than my online sessions.

Thanks for the detailed response, I know it was an open-ended question.
Here's a more specific question kind of getting at the same thing. Have
you ever had a student who wasn't obviously incredibly talented when he
started with you, but was able to employ this style very successfully?

I think "this style" is way too vague.  The only way to successfully pull off the LAGtard is just to be really really good at poker imo.  The better you are, the weaker the hand you can play and still show a profit with.

Thanks for the great reply Garrett.

Inspiring and looking forward to your next video.

Do we have a time estimate on the next video in this series? Looking forward to it.

Great video!

Just one thing about the A-rag hand on A222. Shouldn't we be betting the largest amount that villain will call on the turn maximum profit? It seems like you picked a sizing on the turn that villain is quite likely to fold against.

Hey Garrett, great video. I remember watching your Heads-Up videos on DeucesCracked a few years ago ; at the time I didn't like them that much, guess both my game and your pedagogic skills have improved :).

I must say now that your videos here on RIO reveal how smart of a player your are. Seriously, I'm impressed. More specifically, it seems you've made a great great transition to live games, and you must be a great live reader. I have relatively little experience live, but I've improved a lot recently, and realized that live reads can be HUGE. That would be great of you to make a video focusing on live reads / live tells, because a) it seems u build a big edge from that ; b) it is something usually neglected on online forums / coaching sites (because more online players than live players).

Reason I'm saying this is: in this video you try to make your comments applicable for online players, but it is very apparent that many of your decisions depend on live factors (among which playing hands with very good and very bad players involved at the same time). You say you don't want to get into too much details about it, but like 10 times in the vid I'd wish you'd go into more details!

Talk about how to make people reveal themselves, talk about table presence, basically don't be afraid to dwell into what has become your area of expertise.

Anyway, I didn't understand you a few years ago, but now find you of great inspiration. Keep it up!

What did villain have on JT4K2?