January33

Daniel, great video! Please think of part 3. I'm particularly interested to hear some completely exploit ideas along the lines of the last idea in this video (bet 4x pot with nuts and 2x pot with bluffs). At the same time, as much as i love the idea of the series, i'm wondering why you think the underlying premise is correct. Even a player of your caliber was very off in some spots with CREV relative to PIO solver (so you had to correct crew tree in quite a lot of spots for the good part in he beginning of this part 2). As such, it seems that even you can do quite a lot to improve your "standard" game relative to what PIO is suggesting. Obviously, most subscribers watching this have even bigger gap to fill. So, I'm not sure what makes you believe that polishing standard edges might be less valuable than "creating mysteries". I fully get an argument that this is less exciting. That said (and because of that!), please think about idea for part 3!

Many thanks!

Sam, thanks a tone for taking time to write such an extensive reply (which is, of course, much appreciated!). It makes a lot of sense! Look forward to your next video!

Sam, awesome videos. Clearly, you put much more work into this one relative to standard live play reviews. A lot of spots with PIO and HRM. your effort is much appreciated, please do more of these!

Sam, thanks for the video! Keep them coming!
1. Would you recommend to start using PIO solvers for people who play exclusively MTTs and are non proficient with more basic programs, like HRM or CREV? Do you feel it can help substantially average MTT grinders, given the way games are being played now, or effect will be rather marginal?
2. Do you find CREV very useful for MTTs games? More or less useful than PIO?

Sam,
@33 min you bet QcJh on AdQd8s and you do this cbetting with similar type of medium strength made hands on these board textures a lot because "you have range advantage". Does it mean you cbet 100% on all boards you have range advantage? I really don't understand this play (hence, i play $11 free-outs and you are crushing everything :)). I get that this board favours you, but why don't you to bet polar here and play small pot with medium pair? You don't need protection vs hands, which would fold to your cbet, Virtually nobody would overbet twice turn and river if you check attacking your "capped range", so it's easy to start with the check... What am i missing? Maybe you should continue your mega popular series of "common spots" with cbetting series, and have few spots like this one :)

Sam,
All your videos are great, but i personally benefit the most from this type of videos, where you show every hand VIPI'd, so please do them once in a while! Many thanks!

Sam, please do a video on limp/calling from SB! I'm sure a lot of people (myself including) find it very difficult to play such spots

Grayson, thanks for the video!
You masterfully make a lot of 3bet bluffs (in this video, e.g. at 16.55 with 98s 17min, 21.20 with A10o, and i'd say it's much less than in most other videos you post, when one can easily count 4-5 3 bet bluffs in each individual video). In many of your previous videos you mention that you often do it based on game flow. What do you mean by that? I assume you are mutitabling (so cannot pay attention to game flow of every specific table) and sample size on most opponents' tendency is really small (and with notable exceptions stats are not off the charts for most players anyway). So i'm really curious which factors play the most role in your decision to 3bet bluff in a particular spot. I understand this question is super generic and along the lines of "How to play poker?", but given you are clearly very different from all RIO instructors in this aspect of the game, i would really appreciate any thoughts on what you think most important factors for you? Blockers, stacks sizing (when opponent has to make all-in or fold decision), positions, opponenets' tendencies over small sizes (maybe 50-150 hands), post-flop playability of a hand? Understand, its a bit of everything, but if you think some aspects are clearly more important than others (or even clearly less important), would love to hear your thoughts. I'm especially interested in 3 bet bluffs with 20-40 bb stack situations. Of course, the dream come true would be if you just make a video on this topic. I'd bet it would be the most popular MTT video on RIO! :)
Many thanks!

Lucas,
This video is fantastic! Please do more of these, as I'm sure many people , me including, are doing similar mistakes all the time!

Thanks for the great video, Sam!

Daniel,
Thanks a lot for your replies. Much appreciated! Apologies, for sticking with my biggest question on importance of unorthodox plays.to have a real shot at deep run. It really keeps me awake at night :) and rarely you see such things on RIO videos, hence cannot pass on it :) Do you know (e.g. from your conversations, etc.) if other great players, like yourself, who consistently do reasonably well in large live fields such a EPT main event, do these things with reasonably high frequencies (understand it's hard to define, but lets say high frequency is once every two levels of play at EPT ME)? Because if the answer is yes, then, clearly, even if its not required, then it's strongly recommended :) If on the other hands, you think (or know?) that there are some (or most or many?) people who almost never do it (maybe once or twice during the entire MTT), yet are still successful, then it's something, which is less important. Using your analogies: while 3 bet bluffs are not required, i would take a liberty of asserting that almost all successful players do it with reasonably high frequency. At the same time, probably, most of the people do 5 or 6 bet very infrequently, if at all. Understand, i'm taking a lot of your time on this, so even 1 sentence answer would certainly do! :)

Thanks, James! Please do more of these! Eye-opening!

@20.45 hand i don't think you said what you had. What was it? thanks

Jason, thanks for the video!
It was interesting, but i like reviews/replays format more, simply because you explain every hands in depth much better than most of other coaches.
@17.15 27bb you 3bet shove A9s vs 20-15 HJ opener. What range do you shove? i didn't do the math but it seems he should fold extremely often for this to be profitable

Sam,
@min 52 in villain's shoes what hands would you realistically 4 bet all in? Also, if you don't mind, what he should shove in normal (non-bounty) mtt? Really interested, cause you said its super easy 4 bet shove fro him at 50bb deep when you cover him in bounty, and i'm trying to understand how his 4 bet shoving range here should compare to his 4 bet shoving range in standard mtt
Thanks a lot! Your videos are really awesome!

Sam,

@4.05min you open folded A5o from CO and @54.07 you open A60 from CO and say "it's a pretty large spot". Obviously, you are playing for very high stakes and there are a lot of pressure and other considerations, but would appreciate if you could share your thoughts on what Axo hand is an open raise from CO around 20-30 bb deep in more normal lower pressures stages of MTT,

@19.00 you open raise 66 22bb deep. Will you fold to a shove from any of other 20bb players? If not, then it seems that open shoving 66 should be better?

Many thanks! Always enjoy your videos!

Hi Sam,
Congrats on deep run and on other recent successes!
Why did you choose to flat AQs on the button vs LJ open 30bb deep @41.05min, but 3 bet 99 on the button vs CO open @1,32 min 50bb deep. Understand CO range is much wider than LJ, but then again 50bb is much more than 30bb, Do you think 99 does better in 5 bet pots than AQs in 4bet ones or would you fold 99 if he 4 bet?
Thanks!

Daniel,
Thanks a lot for another great video!

My biggest question to this video is: "Do you think that to be successful in large fields off-line events like EPT and WSOP, and have a shot to running really deep, one needs to take such non-standard/creative lines and playing solid "standard" poker, probably, won'd do?". Would really appreciate your thoughts on this. Obviously, in two hands in this video you took quite an "up hill battle" by bluffing "a rock" (and even calling a rock with a very weak holding, even if for 1/3 bet on the turn with very little equity) and bluffing "a station" in somewhat unusual situations (or in those, where you could have just easily called based on pot odds thus substantially decreasing variance). Do you think such unorthodox plays are required (if the goal is to get to big money in off-line events)? If yes, why? (if possible)

Also, couple specific questions on 5d3d hands (much less important for me, than general one above, so feel free not to answer, if too long):

1. You gave good rationale why you bluff it on Ac6c3c, at the same time you mention several times later in the hand that you might not bluff broadways and 87, 97, 98 (all hands without clubs) on this board. Why would you chose to bluff with paired hands more frequently than with complete air? Would you also using the same logic likely to bluff 6x hands without a club?

2. When flush completed on Ac6c3c10d2c board you say that your opponent would be better off by calling 8c7c than 99c because its better to have two clubs rather than one club. Why is that, given that neither of these cards is likely to have any effect on your decision to bet the river? You either have reasonably high club or you don't, regardless of the second card, no?

Again, thanks for great video!

Hi Stephen, thanks for the video @27.05 you c-bet 32 on 753 fd. In general, when do you lean towards c-bettting 2nd-3rd pairs and when do you prefer to check them? Maybe you could even I've couple board examples, where you would check (and bet) 2nd-3rd pairs HU. Also, on a given board would you in general c-bet 2nd pair more than 3rd pair or not necessarily? Thanks

Hey Juan,

Great video! You articulate post-flop decisions very well, which is not always the case with mtg videos. Two questions:

@4.00 you cold 4 bet AKs - do you even consider calling 3bet and not 4betting? I assume you call if UTG 5bets, but this is 70bb 5 bet and it seems gross to get in 70bb with your stack position this late in mtt. So questions - why do you think 4 betting is better than calling 3 bet? and would you call 70bb 5bet or fold?

@20.00 when you x/r j64r flop, what do you do on brick turn and why?

Thanks again for truly awesome series!

Lucas, great video! Please make more vids of this format. I don't care if you yawn, content is exciting. Thanks a lot

Jason,

Awesome videos. Look forward to part 2 and more videos of yours!
There was a lot of discussion about last hand with AJo, but i still did not get why you want to 5 bet with it, rather than just call? Would appreciate any thoughts. What hands would you call with? Thanks!

Hi Lukas,

Thanks for another stellar video!

@37.30 you called EP raise with 77, 43bb deep with 3 people behind and @40.02 you folded 55 vs EP opener, 55 bb deep with 4 people behind. In both cases openers were loose according to your assessment, spots seems to be pretty similar to me (in fact the latter seems to be better cause people behind have deeper stacks and you are deeper so can set mine more profitably). Given you made different decisions, would be curious to learn what are most important factors for you while deciding between calling/folding with med pairs in these spots.

Many thanks!

Vince, thanks a lot for a video!
I'm surprised you are folding from BB to 2.5x raise hands as strong as J7o, Q5o, K5o, and even A2o, A4o. Understand those are hard to play OOP, but what % of hands are you defending from BB if you are folding these hands? There are only so much suited and connected combos in the deck.... Any thought would be welcomed, as clearly all of us struggle with proper calling ranges from BB to somewhat standard 2.5ish opens....

Ben,

Thanks a lot! Really cool one as always! i feel empowered, enlightened and ready to crush fierce l100 action! :) Please make more HU videos, we have very little pros making them :((
As a random idea (which i understand is very unlikely to materialize) - maybe you and Kevin could make one joint video one day, given you styles seems to be drastically different and it could be very informative. That said, any video of yours would be, of course, super cool

Hey Vincent,
Awesome video as always! Thanks a lot. Most of your videos are, in my view, more informative than those of many elite coaches.

@23.02 on J53r you say that you would check back otf all 2nd and 3rd pairs. I understand you prefer to bet polarized in general, but spots like these i just cannot understand. It's a super dry and disconnected board, probability that you are beat is prob less than 10%. If you have 85 or Q3, then any random card has 25% equity vs you. Why not c-bet and take the pot down 90% of the time and deny your opponent an equity?

More general question - in which cases you think you should cbet 2nd and 3rd pair?

Again - thanks for videos - keep them coming!

Jean-Pascal,

Thanks a lot for reply! Very thoughtful and makes a lot of sense. Just one small follow-up question - you can literally answer in 1 sentence :) Other things being equal, would you be happier to defend 106o, 850, 97o type hands from BB in multiway pot or in HU pot (in both cases initial opener opened from same position for standard 2.2-2.5 sizing with antes)? Understand you might defend in both cases, but what do you think is "more profitable" decision assuming you are playing decent post-flop?

Kevin,
Do you think games at party poker are softer than on PS? what other sites do you think are soften than PS? (any explanation for that in your view or it's more experienced based?)

Ben, thanks a lot! at the very least, i learned i might c bet with 5 on A95 :) (seriously, a lot of things to think about based on your reply for anybody who is willing to put work on his own).

Any thoughts you can give on my 2nd question (having multiple bet sizes in similar spots depending on a particular hand and purpose of the bet). I think it makes perfect sense (at least in low and and mid stakes games), but every time i bet 30% pot to get value from 3rd pair or A high i hear voices of other RIO instructors in my head saying "you, fish, have to have 1 bet sizing in most similar spots or you will get exploited by clairvoyant opponent" :) Now, i don't know how many clairvoyant opponents play nl200 :), but i do think that in order to effectively deal with voices in my head i can either go to a therapist or for somebody as good as you to say that having multiple bet sizes for exploitative purposes is fine, and, if yes, then when? :)