Bishibashi.

@25.45 How come you folded KKJ6 second to closing the action there 5 way? Unless bb squeezes like crazy, isn't this a profitable call?

@22.15 Why do we only want one sizing here on the turn?

Doesnt make sense to lead as we have the weaker range. Check raise would be too thin for value, and too valuable to bluff... so it works better to call.

Enjoyed this, along with all your videos. This concept of Z and its changing nature is something Ive struggled with; How then do we set goals and make plans, or should we not try? Personally I have a definite goal in life, that seems unlikely to change, but the plan of getting there, the route, is flexible and always open to adjusting. Poker is but one way of achieving my goal, but i need to balance this flexibility with the focus required to get anywhere and not spread myself too thinly across other ventures.

Ive not noticed this on this app, but Ive only been playing for a week and at PLO. I did notice a ridiculous amount of set ups on pokermaster a couple of years ago, and stopped playing it as a result, after trying to just adjust for it. Ive been playing poker online for 10+ years and never had such an issue but when you're daily losing quads vs straight flush , i think its right to be suspicious.

same here! good luck

Insightful video, thanks for putting it up. I have a couple of questions;
Is it harder to bluffcatch in MTTs due to ICM considerations?, and if so does that mean we are incentivized to 'play for stacks' more often and overbluff in comparison to cash?
Ive never really understood why cash game sizings are such that they can comfortably get all in on the river (without needing for big overbets); Why do we always want to play for stacks? Why cant we just utilise big overbets when we do?
Thanks, looking forward to the next parts

Great crash course, useful video for sure. I have a question that's not strictly related to this video. You mentioned BU win rate should be about 30bbs/100. What would you say, if u had to give a number/range or ratio, would be a reasonable SB win rate? Mine is -32bb/100 for 6 max zoom, actually slightly worse than my BB winrate. Assuming a player winning at 5bb/100 as an average for all positions, if that helps. Thanks

Hes slowly walking, I think its better for posture and concentration.

Good video as always Butters. I have a video request for you: Id like to see a hand history review of how you play mid pocket pairs in different, difficult, spots. Perhaps filtering for something like 99 in three bet pots, out of position. Personally I struggle to do anything but bluff catch 1-3 streets, usually poorly. Thanks!

Ive not watched many essential videos but I think you should be an elite coach (or Im wasting $90 a month!) :)

You say at some points that bb is folding too much if only calling a certain amount of time. I don't understand this theoretical concept, people seem to imply that given pot odds we need to be calling/raising >X% of the time to avoid being exploited. How can this be true given asymmetrical ranges as dictated by previous actions in the hand? Also, surely we can be 'over-defending' and 'under-defending' on different run outs?

It puts me on tilt just watching that hand! How do you manage to not snap quit sessions after that sort of thing?

Constructive criticism is welcomed by most/all but simply stating your opinion as fact without backing it up with any form of explanation or justification is simply lame.

at 33:30 you say 2% of his 33% range has J7 or JQ, and go on to say that this is 6% total. Am I confused or shouldn't this mean he "has it" approx. 0.7% of the time instead? Great video either way!

I disagree, whilst it's hard to follow every single decision you make in the games, I do like that there are always interesting spots for you to discuss. If I still want to see all the less tricky (for you at least) decisions then I can re-watch when I get lost. 

I think having a third of your roll assigned to shot taking will make things very tough for you, mentally, if your shot fails. Its important to play well and improve your game steadily as you play, not be tilted by such a setback, even if you have the discipline to move down. Id recommend reducing the 50BI for current stake as a preferred alternative, should you wish to move up stakes ASAP. 40 + 5BI sounds more appropriate to me, atleast for the higher micro stakes. gl!

I took it as an accurate statement, not even advice per se. The advice I got from this video is that trying to implement game theory knowledge isn't necessarily the best way forward for all players of all abilities; Concepts are difficult to understand and easy to misapply. I don't see how that's bad advice for nearly everyone; If I were to teach a new player how to play poker I wouldn't even mention GTO, nor would I to micro stakes players. For what it's worth, a personal friend of mine happens to be an "old school feel based live player", and he also happens to have won more than 99.9% of the poker playing population.

It's true though, some do extremely well purely with play based learning only. As you said; some people, not all people...

Hey Ben, Enjoying your video as always. Can you explain to me the rationale behind defending bb with T8s to a 3x open from MP (30 minute mark) whilst folding 44 on the button to a 2.5x open from the Cut off (28.37). Is this to do with your apparent approach to 3 bet or fold when not in the blinds facing an open? Or am I overvaluing the 44 hand as I would much rather call that if I could chose one (but would happily play both). Thanks!

Good video, I completely disagree with Witek's criticism ^^; Just because you are playing two sub-optimal playing styles does not mean you are not providing valuable coaching. These are common play styles and players ought to be aware of them, and of their respective flaws, in order to exploit the 'LAGs' and 'TAGs' they come across. Poker is a game of exploitation; by furthering my understanding of common player types it will only help my win rate vs them. 

I would like to request some PLO 5 card content in the future. Having played the variant for a brief period, I know you are one of the best players of that format and would very much like to hear your insight, particularly as there is effectively no 5 card content on RIO despite there being decent traffic for this variant. Thanks ??? Predator ???

Although HUD stats are 100% accurate, this is not to say that the information you gain from them is accurate. I think what Lucas meant is that many HUD stats require a very large sample size to converge to the 'true' value for a specific player. For example if you have a player with a 100% fold to river check raise in three bet pots, this doesnt mean he will always fold in such a situation in the future. You would need thousands of hands with this player for such a stat to be anywhere near reliable, thus dont rely on it to make exploitative river chack raise bluffs!

Good video, Id like to see part 3. One question regarding the 66 hand at the very end of the video; As you stated villain was a nit and has no 4x combos given preflop action, weren't you tempted to raise his river overbet? (or double barrell turn and river when checked to)

I would definitely prefer to see (3) 6m 5/10 zoom.

Not sure if you are aware/care but at 9.12 a lot of notes are visible for a split second. Informative and interesting video as ever.

Hi Ben,

Great video, keep up the good work! First series Ive watched so far on RIO and finding it very good food for thought. There's been a lot of discussion over the KK hand, I just have one question really: 

Why do we 3 bet pf? 

I understand the necessity for a 3 bet range to be very tight UTG vs UTG + 1, but wouldn't it be preferable to never have a 3 bet range in this spot? It seems to me that 3 betting here, given that it is so hard for us to be light, makes our range very obvious to our opponent and as such he is unlikely to make many big mistakes pre or post flop. If we just flat with our entire range, we play in position  with a wider range and a larger SPR post. I don't see how villain can exploit us, even if he knows we dont 3 bet in these relative positions as there are still 4 players behind who may.

Look forward to your thoughts and hopefully see my logic corrected!

Thanks!