Benji Felson

Love you and your vids but must admit I was praying that you'd get shoved on with the A6 hand just so you'd get put in the cage and discuss the spot. So difficult to fold that hand and yet nobody is bluffing that spot. And you do beat K6. Gonna PIO that later just because I'm curious what the bot likes to bluff.

Even though most of my HU action is hyper HUSNG (25bb), your videos are still incredibly informative and have been invaluable to my progress. I'm very appreciative: keep up the great work.

I've gotten into MTTs over the past few months after having specialized in HUSNG/Spins/cash games for years and videos like this are invaluable for my improvement. I really appreciate this content, as the clear manner in which you discuss both the in-game decisions and macro considerations when playing an MTT makes it very easily digestible.

Always must watch stuff and just wanted to mention that I listened to your interview on the Brandon Adams pod and found it quite illuminating and enjoyable.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the quick response.

Good stuff, Patrick. Just watched this as a precursor to watching the most recent video. Perhaps my favorite part of this video was the subtle blocking of innerpsy's semi-tilting avatar, without comment. The play and explain was good too..!

Had comments on a few hands others have addressed here so I'll save my breath. One thing, though: Teunuss mentioned limping pre OOP with recs to his left in one of his more recent videos, and I like the idea as a creative solution to opening/getting flatted a lot/playing a ton of hands out of position against recs. In the Q9ss UTG hand (32:28) maybe our best play is limp with rec on the BTN, or at least it's worth the thought? I think part of the benefit could come from not even the interaction between us and the rec, but the possibility of regs reacting poorly to it.

Good stuff as always, Gary...appreciate your work.

Agree with the two comments prior: another part would be excellent.

Very good work and thanks again.

That's a good point and I think it does perhaps push some people away (nothing like tanking, though). On the other hand, some people want to be the 'table captain' and it gives them the illusion of being in charge, which many players seem to enjoy.

Great video, Cory: thanks very much for doing this. I've watched it twice and plan on going back through it another time just to look at the solver work you did some more.

I play these games a great deal and my approach varies radically depending on my opponent, but I tend to start with a raise-only strategy when we're at 10/20bb against many recs, and then will shift into a mixed strat at 15/30bb (limping probably ~20-30% of my range), unless villain is extremely passive/underdefending. If I know the person is a regular/solid player (which is actually quite uncommon in my pool) I like to use a mixed strategy from the very beginning. Whenever I watch VbV1990/jackstack/spiritedreal/andrechuvak on Stars (and they are essentially the best players in the world) they all seem to utilize a mixed strat, and I too feel it works the best against the most competent opponents. It was interesting to see that the solver agrees with that, with regards to BTN's win-rate when using that strat.

I should say that I think a limp-only strategy against certain types of recs is an absolute must. There is a breed of player that plays hyper HUSNGs for the sheer rush, and by limping it kind of kills the action they desperately seek. I find this leads to lots of spew on their part and thus can be enormously profitable (but do NOT play slowly/tank against these people, as they will not want to rematch you...and you definitely want to rematch them).

I'm sure I'm not the only one to be pained to hear your sentiments about NLHE not being the best to learn @ ~11:00 (in the middle of a strategy vid on NLHE, no less!). Is this something you've felt more strongly as of late? Does it have to do with the dearth of high-limit games you're seeing on PS/elsewhere? Could you just (briefly) elaborate on why you're feeling this way now (obviously "poker is solved/everyone solid" has been a thing for awhile), about both online and live NL?

Anyway, I still love you and all your work, Ben. That part just made me :(

As far as format, I like the in-depth analysis of fewer hands, as you did here. I also like your idea of sticking to one game per video as I think that structured approach is more conducive to learning.

I'm enjoying all of these videos, Iteo. Obviously far fewer people play mixed games than NL/PLO but please know there are people out here appreciating these. This content has been invaluable to me as I continue to work on my skills in mix.

Your videos are always much appreciated, Ben. A couple questions:

@~9:30 at the table on the right w/ AJhh you said it will be pretty easy to shove river here. Which rivers, if any, aren't you shoving? I guess it seemed a little thin to me on certain run outs.

@44:10 at the table on the right w/ AJss you said that if you had AJcc you'd always shove river, which I assume is because of the unblocking of the BDFD's villain could have on the flop? Are AJss/AJdd/AJhh that significantly different than AJcc here? After he calls the (albeit small) turn bet and we know he's not on a BDFD, does it matter less on the river to unblock the BDFD's on flop? Apologies for my being confused here, but could you explain this spot a bit more in-depth, if possible. Thanks again.

I vehemently disagree with this. Just because you don't get enough value from it does not mean others also don't. Players who win in the 500z pool are in the very top echelon of poker players, and watching someone like Era7er play well in this highly competitive environment is quite helpful to me. And as he says in his response to this post, not everyone wants to see PIO analysis: I can watch other videos for that.

Welcome to RIO Juan and very enjoyable first video.

Really enjoying the videos, Elias. Legit LOL'ed with the spliced in McGregor clips.

I believe johnsonck is talking about the hand on the bottom right at ~28 minutes. I had a similar thought about shoving turn. Also, any consideration to making a larger flop raise or is this the size we want with all our value hands (33, 55, 99) as well? Thanks Mark.

Tyler: enjoyed the video as always.

Quick questions about two hands played ~37:30:
1) You mention raising A5ss on the turn if he bets on A476dd. (he ended up x'ing)
2) You ~1/6 pot block bet 55 on the river on 669hhAh3 after turn went x/x

Just wondering what the rationale was for both plays, as I would play those spots differently but feel like I'm probably missing something. Thanks-OTB_RH

Just watched this video (and the prior part) in my ongoing effort to learn O8 and am very grateful I did. Excellently done...

I've played almost 2000 hours live the past couple years but I still enjoyed this video and learned a couple of things I hadn't thought of prior. Thanks Paul.