Hi, thx for the video!
1:03, we get 22% on the call OTF with our holding for hitting the A or 3 OTT/OTR. + potentially we could turn our hand into a bluff on fav. runouts. Could be +EV to make the call.
2:09 you play your hand not your range in this spot. Do we have a potsize OTT vs vill range? i would prefer to size down around 70%.
4:33 considering bluff 4b K8s some % of the time? unblocking Ax is fairly good + LP ranges are wide.
10:24 after flop x/b doesn´t JTo come it bigger sizing in this spot? My only sizing would be 70% here. We can charge pairs, 6x.

Hello Shaun Pauwels,

I thoroughly enjoyed your video. It was insightful to witness your strategies and thought process during the session. I have a few questions and takeaways I'd like to discuss:

Opening Hands:
1. At 12:35, you discussed opening A7o+ while 5-handed. I'm curious about your decision not to open A5o from the CO in a 5-handed situation. Doesn't A5o play similarly or better than A6 or A7 in that context?

Bet Sizing:
2. At 2:30, you mentioned the size for 4-bets. Could you walk me through what you consider regular sizes for 4-bets, and does it vary based on position?
3. You varied your bet sizing between 30% and half-size in different situations (15:25 and 20:40). Could you explain your approach to determining bet sizes and what factors influence your choice in these instances?

Board Texture and Check-Raise:
4. At 21:10, you mentioned that when opponents check-raise the flop and check the turn, you often bet small to take the pot down. Is this strategy dependent on the specific board texture or other factors?

Check-Flop, Check-Turn, Bet-River Hands:
5. You discussed hands that are checked on the flop, checked on the turn, and then bet on the river, and how you often win them IP (28:15). Could you elaborate on the types of hands that fit this pattern and the conditions where this strategy is most effective?

Reading Flop Range:
6. At 31:55, the reason you say it’s a bad flop for him to XR is because his range is already capped due to the call he made to your OR, right? Thinking about it, this flop doesn’t fit him strong enough to call your re-raise, right?

Zoom vs. Regular Tables:
7. Could you share your thoughts on playing Zoom tables vs. regular ones and how your strategy adapts to these different environments?

Player Tags and Hotkeys:
8. Can you explain the different tags you use? Is it stat-dependent? Stack dependent? Should we work our strategies according to the different tags we put players on?
9. Out of curiosity, I noticed your hotkeys PFR - 2,25 for OR IP, 3 for SB, 11/12 for 3bet OOP - when do you use the 9 and 10? I like the simplicity of having this kind of thing predefined.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insights in this video, and I look forward to your responses to these questions.

Opening Hands:
1. At 12:35, you discussed opening A7o+ while 5-handed. I'm curious about your decision not to open A5o from the CO in a 5-handed situation. Doesn't A5o play similarly or better than A6 or A7 in that context?

Though one. The only reason would be the wheel draws. And the other side would be that with a higher kicker you likely dominate more off the bb calling range. I'm not sure which one triumphs. I assume preflop solvers will indeed prefer A5o over A6o for sure. Maybe A7o.

Bet Sizing:
2. At 2:30, you mentioned the size for 4-bets. Could you walk me through what you consider regular sizes for 4-bets, and does it vary based on position?

4bet sizes against 7bb would be closer to 18bb to 20bb. A cold 4bet is generally stronger than an rfi and then 4bet, so I tend to size these on the lower end. If you size up for the 4bet it makes the defense of the other players easier, as they are allowed to fold more without making an error.
Imagine the guy has a strong hand such as AA, wouldn't he want to size down a bit so I have to call more often. And then he can get more money in postflop when I do connect somehow? So basicly keeping the 3betterd range wider.

1. You varied your bet sizing between 30% and half-size in different situations (15:25 and 20:40). Could you explain your approach to determining bet sizes and what factors influence your choice in these instances?

I mention this in a video somewhere, can't recall which. "Relative amount of marginal hands with incentive to bet" is the idea I use.
Marginal hands are weakish made hands such as 2nd pair, 3rd pair hands. Relative amount means that you have a decent % off these in your range. And incentive to bet means that your opponents folding range has ok equity against these marginal hands.
The example I tend to give is AK4 vs A84. On A84 you bet small and often btn vs bb. Because you have secent amount of 8x, 4x and some pocket pairs. And bb's folding range tends to be 2 offsuit broadway cards that are 2 overcards to your made hand. So they have incentive to bet. AK4 you still have lots of 2nd pair ofcourse. But there's no incentive to bet. So in that case there is no part of your range that wants to bet small. So you bet big.

In the video the AQx is very similar to AK4. Your marginal hands don't benefit from betting small. So just bet big. The J9x also doesn't have marginal hand incentive given that lots of 2 overcards will call with gutshots and overcards to top card.

Board Texture and Check-Raise:
4. At 21:10, you mentioned that when opponents check-raise the flop and check the turn, you often bet small to take the pot down. Is this strategy dependent on the specific board texture or other factors?

In theory it depends on their XR size. If they used a bigger size their range should be polarized. A polarized range in multistreet solves has to have a giveup part on later streets. Else your curreny street bluffcatchers become -ev. So when a polarized range then checks a solver will bet small, and he XR player will fold like 80%. This is correct in theory.
In practice, people just barrel made hands and tend to give up and check fold their bluffs. So I exploit a lot by just betting small. And a small size means it doesn't need to work often, easy to make a profit.

Reading Flop Range:
6. At 31:55, the reason you say it’s a bad flop for him to XR is because his range is already capped due to the call he made to your OR, right? Thinking about it, this flop doesn’t fit him strong enough to call your re-raise, right?

Correct. He shouldn't have AA, KK, 99, or AK. So he can only have A9, K9. That's a very small value range. If he builds a raising range using those combo's he will have a very weak calling range. And in sb vs bb that range will be a lot of combo's. So the A9 and K9 are a very small %. He just can't do this and be correct.
On top of that, it becomes easy to accidently overbluff on his end.

Zoom vs. Regular Tables:
7. Could you share your thoughts on playing Zoom tables vs. regular ones and how your strategy adapts to these different environments?

I talk about this in pokerless improving bb/100. For profit, regular tables are the way to go. Find weaker players, sit at their tables and try to focus your game around them.
Zoom is better if you want to test strategies. I do it because I find it a better format to record videos.

Playstyle I tend to play zoom more solid. Regular tables I play solid except against the players I am targetting and play exploit against them.

Player Tags and Hotkeys:
8. Can you explain the different tags you use? Is it stat-dependent? Stack dependent? Should we work our strategies according to the different tags we put players on?

Blue is a regular. I try to give them some respect.
Red is a solid regular. One I try to avoid a bit.
Orange is a regular with clear issues, some way to exploit. This tend to be in the noted.
Yellow is an overly agressive player. Why the tag is in the player notes.
Purple is a player I saw shortstacking. So keeping an eye out for these for recreational behaviour.
Green is a very wide player. Who cold calls often etc. I use a different strategy against them.

1. Out of curiosity, I noticed your hotkeys PFR - 2,25 for OR IP, 3 for SB, 11/12 for 3bet OOP - when do you use the 9 and 10? I like the simplicity of having this kind of thing predefined.

The 9 is to 3bet 3bb rfi. This is more common rfi size on regular tables for some reason.
The 10 I used for sb 3bets against smaller rfi sizes. I should likely change this to 11.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insights in this video, and I look forward to your responses to these questions.

Glad you liked it. Hope these answers helped you! I loved the questions. Seems like you have a good drive to learn and become better. Keep at it!

Thank you very much, Shaun Pauwels!
I'm grateful for your detailed response.

• Your insights on 4-bet sizing and the factors influencing it in different positions provide a clearer perspective on constructing betting ranges for myself and adjusting the sizing.
• Your explanation of bet sizing based on the relative amount of marginal hands with an incentive to bet is pretty clear - thank you!
• The differences between Zoom and regular tables and how to adapt your playstyle in these environments are highly informative - I never thought about it this way, because Zoom is faster we can test strategies more often; Regular ones are for profit ( this one I knew :) ).
• How you make use of player tags is excellent!

Again, thank you for your time answering me!

hey Shaun, thanks for the video.
15:55 river node is pretty interesting, exploitatively do you think OOP can just XR bluff a ton here since IP's never (or highly unlikely going to have flushes? Thank you!