dianasvensk

Thank you so much for making this video! I've been looking at getting PioSOLVER for a while but been reluctant to use something I don't understand. After this intro I feel much more confident that Pio will be a useful/fun/interesting tool to improve my game (despite not fully understanding the technical side/algorithm).

Gonna start playing around with it right away, look forward to the upcoming videos in this series :)

Hi Kevin!

At 3.46 you 3bet KK and cbet small on the flop 7sTs9d and say you don't think you want to bet polarized on this flop texture. You've mentioned this concept in previous videos too, for example when you 3bet A9dd and the flop came 7d8d9x, but also in a single raised pot when you called from the big blind and only flatted a cbet, after flopping the nuts with 56o on a 4s3c7c flop. In this hand, you were only 100-ish bb deep I think but you said you don't love check-raisning these types of flops. This was a comment you made about the hand;

Generally speaking, I try to avoid building big pots too often on very dynamic boards from OOP, since our equity is not as high with our value range and we'll have to creatively balance several ranges on too many turns/rivers.

I find this very interesting. It's different from how I am/have been approaching these spots as a default and it sounds like you've done a lot of work on these spots. I would really like a video where you elaborate more on this/focus on playing dynamic boards oop in both single raised- and 3bet pots.

So that's my wish for an upcoming video concept :) Thank you for again bringing an awesome video, this series was great!

I just think I'll be giving up way to much though after opening ca 30% hands in CO if I don't cbet all my backdoor flush-straight draws on this flop? Especially having so many high card hands that want to xb.

Great, thanks everyone for the input :)

I think it's close but I would c/f this combo otr.
If your value range is something like AA-KK (9 combos, assuming you maybe c/c half that doesn't have diamond blockers), JJ (3), TT (3), Tjs (2), 89s (4) = 21 combos you can bluff ~ 10 combos. I would start with the unpaired bdfds and you should have enough of those. Even though 78 won't win a lot I think it will win occasionally vs a check backed AdXd flush draw and the fact that it wins more often makes it a better give up for me.

Then explo I would look at his fold to 3bet stat, if it's high (it usually is at 10 nl), I'd give up more often than this.

Hi Jen! Great video, I've started watching them backwards so I'm almost at "the end" now, can't wait for new ones :) I only have one question, it's about the math in the last slide "No redraws!", how come when you calculate the ev of playing the aggro style you don't account for the royalties (4+8) you're missing out the times you foul? Should it not be -18x0.33? Thanks!

I like the flop check, I'd almost always check this board in this situation with my hole range and probably have a x/r range too (AA not being part of it) . When the turn bricks, 8 is pretty much a brick, I like betting two streets w/ a larger sizing. And I'd do it fairly wide for value and add many bluffs, just because it's so rare to see players check back 2 pair + on this type of board texture. As played, I'd call the river too.

Ok thanks, that was what I was thinking too and his bet is fairly polar, c/c seam the best way to go, I ended up timing out though. 

Ok cool thanks! I've had many spots lately where I bet or raised for value and got called by better and I've def started wondering if I'm overplaying some hands. I agree I think I have the best hand almost always here but I was worried that I really don't have many hands to bluff this runout and KK is the worst hand for value I have. Maybe it's an obvious spot but I don't completely trust my judgment atm, thanks for your input :) 

Yep, your right I had a hang up in my thinking :) Ty sometimes I confuse myself. And I don't have 4 combos of 2x it's 12 combos. So maybe bluffing all 2x gets the frequencies about right. 

I think this is very interesting, because my spontaneous feeling here is if we play an over betting strategy on the river we don't want to have a weak Ax medium range that we bet with another sizing, so we would be playing over bet or check otr.

Well, I did have kind of a timing tell, he snap called twice, definitely think he does that with a range of weak Ax too but not a boat and I felt like I wanted to put that hole
range in a though spot.

I'm glad you say this, because that was what I was thinking too when I looked at the hand afterward, that it's a decent spot but it's easy to start over bluffing plus this
hand has some weak showdown value and maybe more + ev to try and
check down? It's just hard to find enough bluff combos when we are overbetting the river.

Vs this size villain has to call 33% of the range he gets to the river with to keep us indifferent, if we say we want to be bluffing 67% of the time and my value range that I play this way look like:

22 (3), JJ (3), A2 (6), AJ (6) A4 (1 – I check this hand back as a standard but occasionally I'll show up with it, AA would probably also be a check back so I removed that one combo as well)

I wasn't sure about 35s, AK and AQ, are they too thin to put in a value range here? I know villain occasionally calls us with better then, but he sometimes 3bet AJ pf so he only has AJ (3), 22 (3), A2 (6), A4 (6) = 18 combos of boats and so many Ax, it feels like he have to defend those often enough to make over betting AQ+ profitable? Bcs if we are playing an over betting strategy here I'm not sure if I want to have another sizing
that we use for weaker Ax, rather play over bet or fold?

Edit: We have 12 combos of 2x that we can bluff with and and we should be bluffing with about 8 combos if we have 19 value combos, and if we can also over bet AQ, AK and 53s for value then we can bluff about 16 combos (40% :))

I did think about it in game, I think I felt it would be such a massive shove it was awkward. I don't think x/s turn is a bad plan though, when his calling range is so tight pre a decent chunk of his range that calls flop will be AJ-AQ with a diamond and pocket pairs and it's reasonable to think he's stabbing with most of his A high ott and it also punishes him if he protection bets his pairs if we do it w a wide range of value hands and bluffs. But I think I probably should have tripled though. We have many more nuttier hands vs this villain and not a massive amount of bluffs (some 7xs and high cards w a diamond).

Hi! 

Great post here are my tips: 

1) I was stuck at 10 nl for a long time and for me switching from Zoom to regular tables really helped. There are so many odd birds in the pool and when I could better see what each one was up to I started to doing a lot better in terms of results.

2) When I play online I spend 1:1 playing/studying. I normally play 2hs, review hands 2hs, play, review etc. It helps me to keep focused and avoid tilt to think and model the hands I played. 

3)You can use the Kelly criterion or Kelly fractions as a guideline for bankroll management, its mentioned in the Intellegent Poker Player (it has a great chapter on bankroll managment that I also really recommend u to read). 

Gl gl! 

Thanks! Yeah I figure if he has any sort of bluffing range here this should be +EV. Just feels like I'm always up against a nutty hand when I get called but that might not mean this is not the best or most profitable way to play these spots I guess. 

Vs min raise I'm def calling pre, vs 2,5x I'll bluff 3bet this hand and occasionally call.

My preference is not to raise the flop vs a good player. Like you said you never have JJ, AA or AJ, and if you decide to play A2s or 22 for value I don't think you're doing great when u get it in otf vs villains value 3bets. But if you do have a raising range on this board I think 56dd is a perfect bluffing hand since it has equity but will never win at showdown. And rather use fds w more equity as c/c like QKdd, QJdd TKdd etc. If you raise A2s and 22 for value you have 6 combos and can prolly raise ~12 combos as bluffs and this is a good one.

The turn puts more nuts in your range, so I'd like to raise some hands here, most of my flushes, then some hands w blockers like KdJx as bluffs.

Don't think he would vbet AK on this river ip, plus very few ppl would bluff in this spot so 5d6d is not looking great. But I think it's good to note if u raise all your combos of A2s and 22 otf you will basically never have a boat so I think u r gonna have to call with a chunk of your flushes otr...

This is a pretty interesting spot I think come up a lot. I semi modeled it for fun, I'm playing live poker atm and have too much time :) 

If you bet river for a pot sized bet you can optimally bluff 50%, so lets assume you get to the river this way w the following (now) value hands that are strong enough to bet river; AcKc, AcQc,Ac4c, QcKc, Ac5c, 8c9c = 6 flushes, TT = 3 sets, AA (6), KK (6) = 12 overpairs

I just assumed here that you'll be checking your Jx and QQ OTR, + the 3 combos of JJ and 3 combos of JTs to have some strong hands check as well. 

That gives 21 combos to value bet here. For a pot sized bet you can add another 21 bluffs. If we assume you're barreling most gutters/broadway cards OTT (which might be too much btw, I dunno, but there's a lot of combos of them) I would def choose the first to be the ones w the Ac, Kc and Qc in them. That would be AcJx = 3 combos, AcQx = 3 combos, AcKx = 3 combos KcQx = 3 combos, QcAx = 3 combos, KcAx = 3 combos, QcKx = 3 combos, tot 21 combos. 

So basically using your Brodway cards in this spot that has a club in them should make pretty good bluffs. Your opponents range is still uncapped on this river (though I think u have a slight advantage, he'll still raise a few value combos/semi bluffs ott) so choosing the right blocker hands to bluff should make a big difference. 

If you bet bigger you can add more bluffs, but I'm thinking it's not a great spot to overbet, like said villain can still have flushes in his range and if you overbet you probably don't want to bet your AA and KK anymore so u won't effectively be able to add more bluffs anyway... But pot seems fine to me. If you bet smaller you should probably remove a few of the bluffs though. 

How you play your hands also makes a difference for how many hands you get to the river w this way, will you ever c/c a draw on the turn, do you often c/r strong hands on earlier streets etc, but still think the club blockers are good randomizers to bluff with. I think you can give up the rest of your air here. And maybe review the turn to see if you are betting too much there.

Floating this in a multiway can't be profitable imo. Co range should be stronger than usual to bet into 3 ppl. Easy fold for me. If it was HU and I'm ip I'm mostly floating though. 

Always raise the turn as you say. As played, my first intuition was that you should always raise the river too. Given his stats I'd assume he has most of the 2 pair; AT, JT, 8Ts, AJ, A2s, A8 that he plays this way and I think in his mind you don't have a set here often considering how the hand played out. I dunno abt fish's 3bet pattern but I'll assume he won't have AA, TT and JJ very often here? The reg behind you probably peel the turn fairly wide, as the fish is stabbing wide and he probably thinks you'd raise most of your strong hands vs him OTT. He should also not be slowplaying a big hand vs this kind of player, so when he peels he probably have some weakish Ax and a lot of draws. It sucks that some of the straight draws came in on the river, but I'd make it like 8,7-8,8 and fold if co jams and call off the fish. The fish will occasionally stack you w 88 and QK but I also think it's very likely he'll jam a bunch of his 2 pairs and sometimes spaz out w hands like QJ and KJ. Ppl that likes to bluff are general likely to be non-believers IMO. 

I plugged in the numbers for myself. If his range OTR is AT (9 combos) JT (9 combos) 8Ts (2 combos) AJ (9 combos) A2s (1 combo) A8 (9 combos) QK (16 combos) and 88 (3 combos), QJ for bluffs (12 combos) and you call, you're gonna win what's in the pot after u call (10.5) 51 times, and loose 19, ie have the Ev of (10,5x0,73)-(10,5x0,27) = 7,7 - 2,8 = 4,9. Ev of calling is much higher than folding (0) which I think is out of the question. 

Now for the EV of raising. Lets assume he will call you 100% of the time when you raise with his worse 2pair; 8Ts (2 combos), JT (9 combos) A2s (1 combo), A8 (9 combos) = 21 combos. He will fold half of his QJ combos (6) and u will win the same as a call, he will 3bet AJ and AT "for value" when which you'll win and bluff 6 combos of QJ which you'll also win, then you'll loose the additional bet 16 times he has QK and 3 times when he has 88. This gives the Ev = (0,3x22,1) + (10.5x0,09) + (0,34x51,5) - (0,19x51,5) = 6,6 + 0,9 + 17,5 - 9,8 = 15,2 . I e Ev of raising is much higher than just calling. 

Obv these numbers change if your assumptions about about how he plays his ranges pre flop are different than my guesses are. I also didn't take the CO into the equation, and he's def a factor BUT I think you can remove all bluffs from him if he raises, your raise vs fish looks strong and I can only see him shove a nutty hand there, if he somehow has a set in this spot he's prolly just calling so if he 3bet OTR w the fish still behind it's probably best to just fold. So even if the Ev is higher for just calling than my calc bcs of CO I still think you're missing way too much value vs the fish by not raising the river.