Unguarded

6:55 - What do you think of overlimping A6s on table 3 to make sure the rec in the BB plays this pot with us?

32:20 - I feel like our hand at table 3 is so strong here that we can play for stacks against TT-QQ. You say this guy is quite tight, so I wonder if he even continues T9s/98s/A9s against our BB 3bet. In a worst case scenario, he has 3 combos of 33, 3 combos of 55, 1 combo of 99, 2 combos of T9s, 2 combos of 98s, and 2 combos of A9s... 13 combos total vs. 18 combos of TT-QQ. And again, I very much wonder whether he even calls most of those combos that beat us pre. And if he does, maybe he hero calls us down with 44-88 at some frequency.

Welcome back to RIO, Tariq! It's awesome to have you back. I subscribe here mainly to watch your library over and over, so it was a pleasant surprise to see a new video pop up! I hope that you make as much or more money in the Ontario pool than you would on Bonition. Good luck!

ROFL, I didn't catch that the first time through... 17:30 if any of you missed it too

I had this bad dream that RIO went 2 full weeks without releasing a single live play Elite video. Then I realized I wasn't dreaming... I was living in a waking nightmare! Awesome video, Gary, and it's great to have you back. Even with my attention span issues, I slightly preferred 3 tables to 4 so that worked out well for me.

Awesome video, Tariq! I am looking forward to your study of multiway pots. That should be fascinating since we can't rely on our solvers in these spots.

I really enjoy your live play videos for the most part. Your explanations and theoretical discussions are always enlightening and you're obviously an excellent player and coach. But isn't it possible to somehow make your mouse silent? The clicking is almost as loud as your voice and it's just constant. The way my brain works, each mouse click breaks up what you are saying into a new mini-sentence and tends to make it all sound like disconnected gibberish. The rest of the RIO coaches have silent mice and keyboards while they play. Maybe you could ask them how they do it? Sorry... I wish I could tell you how to do it myself, but I do not stream or create content so I don't know how.

6:55 - What do you think of going for a 60-75% sizing on the flop with KQo on table 2 to try and get some immediate folds from A hi? I would also worry that going 1/3 on this texture could provoke some unwanted check-raises.

Awesome video again, Gary! I always get excited when I see that you have a new video out because I love live play videos and yours are always top notch. I am glad you choose to make zoom and rush videos because of the fast pace and large amount of interesting spots.

Awesome video again, Patrick! The pacing and explanations were excellent. You were on fire in both of these. Looking forward to your next video!

44:45 - I think you make an excellent point about going big with our monsters in these spots, but choosing a size that doesn't terrify villain with his middle pairs. I have noticed in the past that you make excellent use of the pot-sized bet while so many of us are stuck in a 1/3, 3/4, or overbet sort of mindset. I play on Ignition where we get to see our opponents' mucked hole cards the next day in the hand history replayer, and I do indeed frequently make people fold a lot more than I would like with my "theoretically correct" overbets in similar spots. I will experiment with using the pot-sized bet more often in these spots where I definitely want action. I feel like a 1.5x overbet often looks like a tight reg with a monster while a pot-sized bet looks a lot more susicious on Ignition, so ya... thanks for opening up this possibility to us wannabe GTO bots!

Awesome video as always, Patrick! I really enjoyed getting a rare look at a Swedish site that I will likely never get to play on. It sounds like DEGENSTEIN learned a lot. Can't wait for the sequel!

P.S. - I also have a Dogs Playing Poker poster!

6:45 - You point out that people are sometimes going for a "one and done" when they bet pot on a board where it's not a very logical sizing. I have always interpreted these pot-sized bets as strength and usually only continue with hands that can handle heavy action on later streets since I fear more large bets on the turn and river. I look forward to reconsidering how I play these spots. It sounds like you may have spotted a leak in my game, so thanks for sharing that wisdom!

Awesome video, Mark! I hope tonypepperoni11 learned as much as I did from watching this.

3:15 - This is such an excellent bluffing line! I come from LHE, so my brain still forgets that I can use pairs to bluff out pairs... especially with a multistreet bluff. I look forward to the day when these plays occur to me so fluidly.

37:45 - How confident are you that you can get away with calling a 3bet with hands as weak as 98o in this spot? In my lower stakes games on Ignition, I face these smaller 3bets from the blinds quite often. But I am obviously not going to play as well postflop as you do at this stage in my development.

40:20 - Was this exploitative min bet intended to provoke a bluff raise? And if so, did the board pairing play a role in your decision? I enjoyed your very educational battles with this opponent... lots of wild spots!

Thanks again for the excellent video, Gary! Those of us with attention span issues are grateful for your fast-paced live play videos. Also, it's been quite helpful to see you and the other elite coaches playing in some softer games over the past month.

17:05 - I always jam this type of hand on the flop in this spot thinking that I can fold out underpairs and trashy 9s while avoiding getting bluffed on future streets. Against a smaller bet, I worry that villain will make some loose or outright terrible peels and later turn the hand into a bluff on a scary board. So I prefer to just force these hands out of the pot ASAP at this SPR. What are the advantages of going smaller?

22:35 - I also agree that a smaller size is better, but your preference for a check confuses me a little bit. What are the advantages of checking as opposed to betting small? I worry that we just end up missing value by checking against 2 loose-passive players in a spot where I definitely want to play for stacks against other Ax.

28:25 - I also want to bet the flop here since our hand is so hungry for protection instead of going for a "standard" range check. What sizing do you prefer? I have been going half pot in similar spots since I find that 1/3 seems to get floated or even spaz bluffed a lot which leaves us in a really tough spot on many turns. I have been considering going bigger here... 2/3 or even 3/4.

37:05 - I always find myself tempted to just outright shove the turn in similar spots. I feel like villain doesn't have very many made hands without big draws that want to continue. But many of villain's draws are big combo draws. I worry that betting your recommended $40 gives these hands odds to continue given villain's implied odds on the river. But I notice that solvers and strong players such as yourself never do this. What is flawed in my logic?

Thanks again for the awesome video, Tariq! I usually have attention span issues when I watch replayer videos, but you managed to keep a fast pace while doing an excellent job of breaking down the many interesting hands in this video. Can't wait for the sequel!

7:35 - You mention that you can fold K5o without the 5s on the flop due to the reverse implied odds when you hit a 9. Could you please elaborate on this concept and why it makes such a big difference to have the 5s? I think I sort of get it, but not completely. I am transitioning to NL from limit holdem where catching a 9 on the turn is just pure awesomeness, so I still struggle with these things.

9:20 - You elect to overbet the turn planning to shove the river against a likely rec player once the pot gets heads up. This would never have occurred to me in real time, but I love the idea. I get it into my head that I am supposed to have a monster to play for stacks in these multiway pots, so it somewhat blew my mind that you were able to find this logical play so easily. Tbh, I probably get overly afraid of sets vs. cold-callers. I also liked how you rejected the "standard" idea to check the flop due to the weaker players in the blinds and your hand's need for protection. It reminds me not to be lazy when I play. This was my favorite hand of the session.

Thanks again for the excellent video, Gary! I always enjoy your content.

That is fascinating that so many players in the pool are bluff raising dry flops, yet hardly ever have value hands. I wonder if they persist because these bluff raises have proven to be an effective strategy in the pool?

Thank you for all of your hard work, Tariq! I have been devouring your videos since rejoining RIO. As a US player with limited options, I am so happy that someone is focusing on the Ignition games. Your play and explain -----> interesting hands with hole cards revealed -----> pool analysis in a specific spot videos are my favorites.

I just wanted to add that I was watching an Isildroon video from this year where he says it is trendy to cold-call our entire range in the HJ vs. an UTG. I believe he did it himself in the video with mid-tier aces. I believe the reasoning is that our range is excessively strong and easy to read when we 3bet an UTG from the HJ as we will be very AA heavy with the rest of our hands being monster kings, double suited broadways, and highish double suited rundowns. So our choices are to 3bet some weaker hands for balance, accept that our range is going to be fairly easy to read, or to just cold-call everything. And of course, another added benefit is that we get to 4-bet reasonably often with 4 players left to act. Not saying this is right since I really don't know, but it is something to look out for and one more reason to avoid squeezing in this spot.

Just as a general player pool read, I would fully expect a guy with reg stats to have AA almost always on Ignition in this spot. Playing around in propokertools, it looks like we still don't have enough equity on the flop if he also does this with double suited kings, single suited broadway kings, double suited broadways, and single suited A hi broadways. We need 18.6% equity, but we will only have 16.38% (10ish% if he only has aces). He would need to be getting very out of line for us to have much hope.

board: ah8d2
Hand Equity Wins Tie
qsjd9c8s 16.38% 479,316 6,15
AA, KK:xxyy, KK$B$B:xxyz, $B$B$B$B:xxyy, A$B$B$B:xxyz 83.62% 2,459,148 6,156

P.S. - I want to be able to just look at this spot and know we don't have enough equity like Phil ;)

Hello Phil,

In the KKQ9 hand beginning at 8:30, I do not recall you mentioning the possibility of 4-betting small to allow Stan.TheM4N to reopen the betting with a likely 5-bet shove. Does this option have any merit? It would all but guarantee that we get our stack in pre-flop with Zwyyy if he calls the 5-bet, but I would obv be worried that he might fold to the 5-bet realizing that we are almost certainly shoving when it comes back around.

I am assuming that you feel like simply 4-betting pot is better since it is more likely to keep us 3-handed instead of heads up vs. Stan's likely aces. Could 4-betting small be the best play if Zwyyy was a rec player who would never fold to Stan's 5-bet?