Drachaon

That fold with the A3o seems absolutely atrocious. It's basically the best hand to have here. I don't think there's any argument for ever folding here.

Thanks for the video Wei. At 30:00, you 3bet QQ from the BB against an MP open. How are you responding to a 4bet here? Do you have a 4bet flatting range in these positions preflop?

Thanks - it still seems high though, right?

Obviously no one knows what optimal defending frequency is but the solvers have it around 45% in position in the spots they've worked on. It ought to be significantly lower than that OOP for an average much lower than 33%. Perhaps it's a sample size issue, or you might be overdefending?

Thanks for the reply. Only folding to 3bets 33% of the time OOP doesn't seem right!

Thanks for the video Javier. How wide of an RFI do you use in the MP? I noticed you opened KTo so are you around 23%? Do you find you're able to effectively defend 3bets OOP with a range that wide?

Hey Paul, many thanks for your reply.

How wide are you 3betting here? The range I'm currently using is around 8.5% 3bet in this spot - and certainly no room for 44 or 55. I've never really even considered it so I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

As for the CO defend, if we assume a standard 27% open, and that we want to defend around 55% of our range to a 3bet IP (10% of that by 4betting), then that leaves us around 160 combinations of flats. If we're going down to 44 in pairs then we have to start folding A8s, 65s, T8s, AJo type hands, which seems a little pair heavy. Unless, as I said, we're over-defending 3bets. If we also have 86s I can't see how we wouldn't be over-defending?

It has a considerable effect on this spot so definitely interested in your thoughts!

The first KJo hand looks like a clear fold on the river to me. You just block too much of his bluffing range.

That said, I think the range you gave villain looked too wide to be optimal, but if that's the range you genuinely think he does have then it's a snap call to exploit his terrible river sizing (should be a river shove from villain here since he's totally polar and you can't really have any traps).

I think what you're saying must be correct, and I'm interested in how much wider it should be.

Taking the CO as an example, the consensus is about 27% RFI - intuitively it ought to be a good couple of % higher with antes, but has anyone done the math or crunched anything like this in a solver? I frankly don't know where to begin with it.

Folding the JJ to the large squeeze seems exploitable. Clearly we should be tightening up because of the sizing but this seems too far.

7 minutes-ish you say you have 44,55 in your range in a 3bet pot SB versus CO at some frequency? That seems very non standard. Even 77 would be borderline here surely? I would have thought those hands would be folds to a CO open here. (And it's not clear to me that CO should have 44 unless he's overdefending 3bets.)

In addition, if you did have 44 and 55 I imagine you'd want to go ahead and 3bet the flop raise most of the time?

Given all this are you checking your QcJc some of the time? I would have thought you'd need to on this texture.

Thanks Kalupso. I don't have the bankroll to blow on this solution at the moment, but would be happy to compare ranges with someone.

Seems like a reasonable call preflop to me (at least at some frequency). You're going to have to flat 60-80 combos of hands preflop (depending on how wide you open UTG) and AQo isn't a slam dunk but it's a solid candidate on the periphery along with your KJs, ATs type hands.

River is obviously close but it should be a call at least some of the time.

Great video (as all of yours are). Are there any plans to do a bet-sizing installment on flop sizing?

Great video Steve - love the format.

It seemed to me that you were a little on the charitable side in places. I think it would be very tough to argue that opening 34/69/75 CO/BU/SB can be good in the modern game. Weak players will be smashed by playing a solid strategy so you're at best opening yourself up to exploitation and at worst lighting money on fire.

Likewise 3betting 11% OOP versus the CO seems, at best, a mistake?

The solvers are suggesting 3betting ranges upwards of 18% (against anyone). What do you make of this?

Does anyone know how wide Baron generally opens UTG (from railing or w/e)?

Looks like a fold PF, whatever you're doing with your range? What percentage of your range are looking to defend here and how does this fit into it?

I think the turn call looks ok as played. As above, you might want to XR flop at some frequency with this combo, but obviously a call the rest of the time.

An addition to this: the microgaming network appears to have instituted by far the best rake structure for .25/.50 and below since late 2015. The structure really is much better.

How's the rake?

Thanks for another good video Steve.

On the final hand, it seems like villain's flop and turn calls are pretty bad given this was originally a three way pot, before even getting to the river?

I would think he has enough TT and better and 8s to call river with?

Thanks for the video.

Do you have an opinion on the optimal opening % for a 2.5x raise? I noticed you fold J4o for example. Are you opening 80%?

On the T3s hand, I don't see how you're going to be 3betting enough without having suited trash in there at some frequency.

Assuming we want to be 3betting 17%+ then you can't only use suited gappers.

Thanks Paul - that's a good point and has helped me think more clearly about sizing.

You speak at one point about cbetting with a high frequency with a smaller sizing. That strikes me as a little confusing. Surely if you're including lots of bluffs (necessitated by a higher frequency) then you ought to use a larger sizing, not smaller?

Thanks for your reply Javier. You would have AK there too? I think our ranges are quite different in this spot then. I'll take a look at mine and reassess.