foShizzle

Hello,

Today its a good time to summarize a February.
- last few days I increased my volume instead of studying more. I wanted to play a certain amount of hands and I achieved this so I am happy
- I improved my preflop game. I prepared ranges and now I have a better default strategy against a total unks
- I improved my game from BB. My winrate from this position is -18bb/100 now and I can see a big improvement here
- I improved my game in 3 bet spots
- I found a partner to talk about a game and improve together
- I built a bankroll to play NL16, but I want to play some more hands on NL10 before I move up - just to myself, to be more confident.

So generally it was a good month.

As Matt Janda said, find a low-hanging fruit. Tomorrow I will take a break and think about my biggest leaks right now.

Take care of yourself and see you next time.

I don't see any reason why would it be a bad thing, it won't affect your skill :)

but how could it be mathematically better to 3bet with K6s instead of KTs, if you don't call and just fold KTs?
because what, KTs is blocking AT/KT/QT/JT/TT/T9 so there is a bigger chance that EP has premium stuff?
but if we compare this with K5s cold 4bet then it doesn't make any sense, because AQs has better blockers than K5s... in this spot, we should be worried about getting 5bet jammed so:
- AQs can block 3 combos of AA/3 combos of QQ/3 combos of AKo/1 combo of AKs/6 combos of AQo/1 combo of AQs = 13 premium + 7 AQ combos
- K5s can block 3 combos of KK/3 combos of AKo/1 combo of AKs = 7 premium

so HOW could it be mathematically correct?

Hello,

today I analyzed few more Axx board textures and I cannot find more interesting ones, so I am just doing random ones (I prepared 17 types of board and I want to do 8 more, then I am moving to Kxx boards). Today I want to present to you two flops:
- Ac Qh Ts
- Ac Qh 8s
Both are rainbow, both are again generally better for a BU range than BB range. The first one has three broadways and the cards are connected a little bit more than in the second one.

As you can see BB has a lot of combos to work here with. I could even fold Tx on the first one board and worst straight draws - I just decided to cut lowest equity combos here because still, I can defend enough without being exploited, so why do I have to call here worst hands? To be honest, I didn't expect that, and in my game, I was calling here with these cards. I am glad that I can fix my leaks with every board. Maybe it might be controversial why am I calling Kxc instead, but with Kc6c I can call different turns that with other ones and it is easy hand to play on the turn. It has nut flush potential and a gutshot, so I value it higher than T9o. I am not calling here hands like Kxh or Kxs because they won't have a nut potential and I don't have to call them against BU.
In the second one same story, no reason to even call here with 8x and the rest is rather standard I guess.

If you don't know what ranges did I compare, you can find them below. If you want to see a specific board you can write to me and I will prepare a range on that board for you.

Take care of yourself and see you tomorrow.

Just like Belrio said, this sample doesn't tell you very much - I would say that it tells absolutely nothing. Maybe you were playing very aggressive against regs who overfold but will adapt, maybe you got sick run of sets, AA>KK, won coinflips and stuff like that.
A representative sample might be something around 100k I guess, but you have to play minimum 20k hands more to say sth more and see a direction of your winrate.

to be more precise: I don't like to 4bet with AQ against SB 3bet.

3handed check flop?

Run It Once Poker?

Hello,

today I analyzed 7 more Axx board textures and I want to present you two of them:
- Ac 5h 2s
- Ac 8h 7s
Both are rainbow, both are better for a BU range than BB range and at first glance, they are very similar. But as you will see below, connected structures opens a lot more options for BB defense range:

As you can see BB has a big problem to defend here more than 43%. I didn't find hands with good enough equity to continue here with.

From the other hand, 8-7 connection in the second one opens not only a straight draw option with T9 and 65 (and BB has 16 combos of these hand) but also allows BB to call here backdoors with a lot of possibilities to improve on a turn with JTs and J9s. I don't have to say that BB range contains more 8x and 7x combos than 5x and 2x and that's another reason why BB can defend here more.

You may think that maybe it's a big deal that BB defends only 43%, but from the whole spectrum of Axx there would be a boards where BB can defend almost 70% and tomorrow I will post here these kinds of boards.

I hope you like the new layout. If you don't know what ranges did I compare, you can find them below. If you want to see a specific board you can write to me and I will prepare a range on that board for you.

See you tomorrow.

Hello Lush,

• standard preflop
• on the flop you have an easy value bet and I like your sizing
• things are tricky on the turn because now you have to make a plan. IMO if you decided to check/call here, then on the river other than spade you just have to call. What would be the purpose of check/calling turn and check/folding river which don't change anything?
• I like your check/call turn line - you are getting value from his floats with bluffs and lower Ax (he is calling you with any Ax and with A9s you are dominating a lot of them), you are keeping the pot small,
• betting here might be an option too, but you don't have a three streets of value anyway, bet/folding your hand might be a waste and actually after flush hits you have to play with more attention. I know that he has a lot of spades in his range, but there is no need for protection and I would like to get to the showdown on the lowest possible cost.
• on the river we can see a card which doesn't change anything and I don't see any reason to fold here.
• what is more, you are playing three handed on the widest ranges, so folding your hand here would be weak
• Don't be results oriented, well played.
• a lot more interesting question is: what would you do if he overbets river?

I hope this answer helps you.

Hello Sunshine, Sunshine Reggae,

• you didn't say anything about a preflop - I don't like your 4bet sizing at all
• BB used a very weird sizing so it might be confused, but you have to plan your hand in this situation
• after your 4bet, your stack size would be around 93bb and this will be an effective stack (BB has 200bb+).
• So the pot size on the flop would be 41,75. Now some math:
• after cbet 1/3 pot size = 14bb it would be 69bb in the pot, and your stack left will be 79bb
• now let's take a look at what would happen if instead, we choose 23bb preflop:
• after your 4bet, your stack size would be around 90bb and this will be an effective stack.
• So the pot size on the flop would be 48,25. Now again some math:
• after cbet 1/3 pot size = 16bb it would be 80bb in the pot, and your stack left will be 74bb
• ok, now let's take a look on the flop
• first of all, I don't see any reason to bet here. Tell me, what better hands than yours might fold here?
• you want to utilize your positional advantage, take a free card, keep pot small and the most important thing, you want to realize the full equity of your hand and I don't like your bet/fold line here
• about his range, IMO you are just guessing this range and I don't believe that he would shove here something like 98s
• that's the reason why your odds and equity counting is not good. Now again, think about this: what bluffs might he have here? Completely random ones. I don't believe that an unk (you have only 56 hands and this guy looks reasonable) could shove here TT or JJ because why would he do that? Why would he shove 98s? How do you know that he can call you with 98s?
• in this situation, you have an easy and absolutely no brainer fold.
• calling here without more info/reads or dynamics is even is a gambling

I hope this answer helps you and as Laid Back sang, I have got a message for you:
Sunshine, sunshine reggae, don't worry, don't hurry, take it easy :)

Haha, now I see :)

So it seems that we have very similar ideas about spots like this.

Hello,

few intro words:
- since today I will be posting a new content both on the comment section and I will be editing my first post so you guys can avoid boring scrolling each time
- I made a new excel graphic layout for you and now I feel that I will present my data more user-friendly than before :)
- I reached my goals and after putting a lot of effort with my preflop issues, my new goal for February is now to improve strictly passive BB defense
- The best exercise IMO would be to analyze more flops on widest possible ranges and OOP, so yes you are right, it would be more BB vs BU spots
- random flops are very useful but I wanted to try something new
- I found out that Axx boards are trouble for me so I will start with them
- I am expecting that my study process would be now even more effective than before and I hope that you will find some interesting stuff here and we will learn something together
- today I analyzed six boards and I tomorrow I will post you the most interesting ones
- so for today, here are my new ranges for my exercises purpose and their equity against each other in a vacuum:

I hope you have enjoyed.

See you tomorrow.

Hello Hawks (you mean Atlanta Hawks win? is Trae Young a future MVP and a new Steph Curry? :)),

• preflop standard
• on the flop I assume that we have absolutely no reads or info, we are deep and playing against an SB and BB range
• SB calling range is sth like a pocket pairs, suited broadways and hands like AJo, maybe higher suited connectors
• BB calling range here is wide because of the odds and his deep stack makes his implied odds even better
• board structure is action heavy, this is a very coordinated and very bad flop for your whole range, it is a rather good flop for SB range and a very good flop for a BB range
• imo the most important decision is to cbet or not to cbet, because as played you have an easy spot I guess
• imo here you have actually two options and I am mixing both of them with my overpairs in these spots - you can either check back or cbet here. That's my thinking process about this and I would like to hear other voices about that as well.
• pros for check back: you are keeping pot small, so you give up protection to avoid possible check/raises and you have to evaluate your position on the turn. Generally, you can call a bet on a blank turn (and most of the turn cards are good for you not for drawing hands) and if they check again you basically have here two streets of value because people think that you are cbetting here overpair all day long. Basically, you have an easy calldown.
• cons for check back: as I said you give up protection; if flush hit you have to fold and you might be bluffed from time to time. Also if we don't cbet here AA, then basically have here a very face up cbetting range, but think about it for a while. Do we actually really care about that? Do we need to have a balanced cbetting range in a multiway spot?
• pros for betting: you are generating value from draws and worse hands than yours, after a call on the flop you have full control: you can bet or check back on the turn and you can evaluate river because you are in position. Your bets look strong because its multiway and because of the sizing and people will be generally sincere with they raises here so if they reraise you, you know that you are behind.
• cons for betting: the most important one is that your flop line is to basically bet/fold here because imo stacking against unk on 260 deep with only an overpair would be a huge mistake. I would make a note on that guy and I would love to play him till my days are gone. People will raise you here with value and some draws and you could be bluffed from time to time, so it's potentially a hand waste.
• as played, you have an eaaaasy fold here. Look at equity of stackoffs here:
• AsAd vs 76s = 3,28%
• AsAd vs a bottom set = 11,31%
• AsAd vs 54s = 27%
• AsAd vs 8c7c (pair + gut + fd) = 41%
• AsAd vs 6c3c (oesd + fd) = 44%
• AsAd vs 9c8c (pair + fd) = 50%
• AsAd vs 9c7c (gutshot + fd) = 52%
• AsAd vs AcKc = 62%
• after SB call and BB reraise it is an easy fold.
• I would think twice about stacking here with a good flush draw, but with only a pair?
• I think that with 54s you would maybe consider a call or reraise here, so why would you do that with only a pair which looks so pretty? :)
• you have to think about this spot that you have a better range to continue here with and there is no reason to stack off. Your bottom to continue here is for me 54s and some very good draws. Especially because you don't know what would SB do.
• the another (but a really small one) problem is that you are blocking his backdoors with As
• the more interesting decision is to cbet or not to cbet.
• When I am thinking about it right now for myself, in the future spots I would probably split it this way: bet with AA without Ac (the best one would be ofc AsAd) and check with AcAx (because you are blocking a nut flush draws so in villains range there are more value combos and less flush draws)

I hope this answer helps you.

you are welcome ;)

I am learning a lot by writing stuff like that and I really like it.
Currently NL10 :] but I am climbing very fast.

Thank you for reply.
I made a mistake - I mean 3,5x bb not 3 bb :) And that's what I wanted to ask you about haha, sorry ;)
Do you think that BB is folding more?

Hello,

• preflop classic
• what is the reason to raise flop if you don't want to get your stack in?
  I would just call here. Because that's an ahead/way behind spot, you are not afraid about actually any turn card and you can raise him later if you want to. Now you should just let him bet. If you are raising here, I assume that you are doing it for a value, but it seems that you didn't plan what would you do if he reraises you - and just like a murphy's law say about spots like this - that's exactly what happened :)
• that's another reason to call here because if you would fold to his shove on the flop, you shouldn't be raising
• it's pretty obvious that he would continue his aggression on the turn so you have to make a plan what are you doing on the flop after his 3bet
• imo you should either fold to his reraise or if you decided to call a flop, then you have to call a turn because it is a total blank - I don't see a consequence in your play.
• probably because it is FR your exploitable fold on the turn is fine, but what is the reason to call a flop reraise then? because of odds to hit 2 outer?

I hope this answer helps you.

Hello Zuxico,

• first of all, could you write something more about your preflop strategy? I can see that you are opening here 3x and I would be grateful if you could write a few words about your results - do you open tighter, do you have a better fold equity etc
• to be honest I don't like your call against unk for a few reasons. Maybe a flop is a 'dangerous' but you are playing on a really wide ranges. You don't know how many streets can you check/call here and you have a hard decision after he is betting a turn here. In your range there are better combos to check/call here with. You have a mediocre at best bluffcatcher, because it's a weak pair only with a little potential to improve and BB can bet here really wide and usually his range is 2nd barreling a lot of turns. So check/calling here means more tough decisions. Pros of checking are that you are showing your opponent that you have a mediocre or weak hand, and this aspect is very important on the river.
• let's consider a cbet here. First of all, you have an easy decision after his raise because you can just fold your hand. Secondly, you have control over pot size here because you are choosing sizing. Thirdly, you can win a pot right here and right now which is the best - on the turn you don't want to see a lot of cards.
• personally, I would choose to cbet here all day long, especially against an unknown player
• you got lucky on turn and as played flop, there is of course no reason to donkbet here
• on the river you have a really hard spot, but that's a consequence of playing check/call on the flop, to be honest.
• because BB checked back on the turn, I would like to gain an initiative on the river for a few reasons
• I would try to bet here with your trips, because imo BB could call you here with his range which contains a lot of marginal hands which are bluffcatchers as well. My sizing would be around 30-40% to give him good odds to call here with his Jx, Tx. Pros of this option are that you have an easy decision after his raise, you would value bet with this sizing here with your best hands and your line is repping Qx, 7x or even better and now it's BB who has a tough decision.
• however you checked three times - you are checking on the river, so yours perceived range is really weak and if BB decided to bluff you on the flop that's the perfect spot and a card to try to bluff again and we have to remember about that
• BB range contains all of his bluffs, so as played whole hand you have a close call
• for me, you can avoid spots like this by choosing another line on the flop

I hope this answer helps you.

Hello Mati,

I am playing lower limits, but if you don't mind I would like to say a few words about your hand.

• preflop it's a standard
• I am considering his range now. You are playing a 4-max so he should 4bet you with a higher than normal frequency and wider than on 6-max.
• you didn't write anything about his stats or any more info so I assume that he is an unk reg (quite aggressive for me means little bit over average, so it's still an unknown player)
• I assume that unk reg won't normally slowplay here and when he is calling you then his range is capped because normally he would 4bet with AA-TT, AK, AQs
• however, everything change when we look at stacks here. You are around 170bb deep and people on deeps like to flat more often to make a trap. The point is that he could have more monsters in his flatting range than normal
• on the flop your cbet is a standard and now you are getting a raise
• now the board is action-heavy and you have a bottom two pairs. You are blocking 88 and 77, so the question is how to react
• normally people should 4bet JJ CO vs BU, so I wouldn't be worried about that. Would he play like that T9s? It's only 4 combos. Would he x/r here with a good flush draws? certainly. Would he x/r here with AA/KK is he was scared preflop? definitely. We can't forget that you are playing 4-max, so he can x/r here with some bluffs as well, maybe Jx.
• on 100bb I would consider shoving here, but because you are deep that's not an option and you have to call
• turn is blank and now you have to decide what you are doing, because opp is just saying that he is shoving on the river.
• I know how it feels when only 9 combos can beat you, and 2 of them are very unlikely due to your blockers, 3 of them are unlikely because this combo should be in his 4betting range
• However, imo people in deepstack pots are more sincere than normal and now let's think about what other good combos he can play like that - x/r flop and bet blank turn.
• let's give him first AhJh, KhJh, QhJh, JhTh. We have 4 combos now. He may have something like AhKh or AhQh occasionally, but normally he would probably 4bet you or x/c flop. He may have other flushdraws, including AhXx (but again he would probably just x/c flop with them) and other broadways. From this range combos which could play like that, I will pick QhTh, AhTh and Ah9h. So we found 7 combos. Maybe even 6h5h, but let's be tight.
• so now let's assume that he only semi-bluffs here. IMO that's not so good assumption, because players could play like that good backdoors for example, but let's just do it because I want to show you that you have a call here
• so 9 combos beats you and you are ahead of 7 combos. With 2 combos you have a split.
• if we assume that he might slowplay AA sometimes and rarely KK and if we assume that JJ might be in his 4bet range sometimes, then for me you shouldn't fold here
• now the question is do you have to call or do you have to raise here
• when you jam here, he will fold from above range: AA/KK/bluffs. He should call with his flushdraws because he only needs here around 30% equity against a set and after your shove he will have 25% odds to call (42 to call and pot is around 125 after your shove, so 42/(125+42))
• he won't fold any better hand than yours which means that you have to call and I wouldn't jam here because there is more cons than pros
• on the river you have a sick spot, but now you are getting very good odds here. If he is playing like that a busted flushdraw from time to time and if he is really slowplaying here AA or KK sometimes, then you cannot fold here
• for me, well played cooler

I hope this answer helps you.

Yes.
You can create a different number of players and format, so it's very flexible.
The program will show you your leaks, so it's good.
All you have to do is just playing against snowie, so learning is fun.

Sizing is a very hard and really complex topic and I can't give you general answer in a few sentences.
But based on my experience with these limits: it depends on how do you like to play your draws, but a population tendency on NL2/NL5 is that people are cbetting flush draws in 3bet spots with sizing around 60%-70% - for sure more than a half of the pot. You generally want to play good draws aggressively and bet higher to generate a bigger fold equity.

Hello,

today I spent another day working on preflop game theory. I prepared a lot of new stuff and I learned a lot of new things so I am very happy right now. My plan is to end my preparation tomorrow, so you will get new flops on Monday.

See you tomorrow.

Hello,

• preflop ok, but a call is a valid option as well
• now another topic if your info about a villain. All I can see is that he has a normal stack, he is using normal sizing and without stats/reads or anything more information (which you didn't write for us) you can't consider him like a fish, but as an unknown player.
• what do you mean by saying: "he is probably a fish"? People are playing one table because they are learning how to play, so usually, they are playing 1 or 2 tables only. You cannot simply assume that he is a fish by this on NL2/NL5 and if you assume by default that each unk with a full stack who plays 1 table is a fish, then you are doing it wrong and you will have a lot of spots like this and you will be losing money by a bad plays over and over again
• for me, you are just trying to justify your very bad play by saying that he is probably a fish - especially your play on the flop because a river is so bad that it's a different story
• on the flop you have an easy check back. You are not betting for value and if you are betting with this sizing you have no fold equity and people will seem your bet as a bluff/float and generally weak on these limits. You can't force UTG to fold a better hand here. Ow sorry, maybe he will fold an AK. You are interested in keeping a pot small, your hand can improve on a turn, you have some backdoors and you have a position. I can see only reason to bet here - to buy a river on your price, but you didn't write that (instead you were just guessing that "his range is wide" without any info) as a reason. What is more, you have better hands in your range here to continue and actually, you are playing against a really TIGHT range
• on the flop you have odds to call, but you are in a tough spot right now and you completely don't know where you are. Fold here is a good option as well because EP range here has all the sets, slowplayed monsters, hands like QJs, JTs, 87s, two pairs, FLUSHDRAWS and he has a lot of a good stuff here and maybe air if he thought that your sizing is a weakness - but that's just a guessing game and you can't guess in these spots
• on the turn you hit your tptk, so now you are beating his air and you are beating his lower pocket pairs. If you are calling here, then you generally have to call a river. Now there are more combos of two pairs, more heavy draws and EP bets. For me, that's a fold. Without any info playing AQ in this spot as a bluff-catcher is a not so good idea
• on the river you have an easy check back. You should be happy that villain didn't bet here, you have no value in betting and now you are turning your hand with a showdown value into a bluff. Tell me, what are you repping here with this bet? Nut flush? With a flush draw you would probably bet higher on the flop, so again you just hope that EP is a complete fish who forgot what happened.
• as played, imo EP will never fold here any flush and he will never fold here any Jx. On the river you were just guessing again that he can fold here a set or 2p.

Sorry for being harsh, but sometimes a bucket of cold water is the best thing.

and I really hope this answer helps you.

generally nope, that's not true but to be sure you should just write to your support.
On pokerstars you are not paying more rake because of that (http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/products/run-it-twice/)

This "more rake" thing is a popular myth.

I am not using it because I am giving a flying f about my variance.
What is more, from my perspective, it's even -EV for me.
Someone can more often shove/call my shoves because of that (if he knows that he can decrease his variance and don't want to stack against a guy who is running it only once. That's silly but there are regs who are thinking like that).
Even if it's a marginal or very small advantage, I am taking it.

Hello,

today I spent a whole day working on preflop game theory and I didn't have time to work on flops.
The reason is that I didn't expect that I will beat my current limit so fast and now I have to prepare some stuff before the next one.

See you tomorrow.

13th February 2019 report:
ad. a)
BB vs BU - 6d 5h 2d

My thoughts:
Easy to defend board. Good value raises, good draws, good equity to call vs BU cbet. Nothing more to add here.

BB vs SB - As Qc 9d

My thoughts:
I don't want to have a raising range. We have a lot of good hands that we can call here. Damn, that's a next day where I am impressed how wide BB range could be defended on the flop.

ad. b)
BB vs BU - Jh 6d 2h

That one was tough and probably that's the type of a board structure when as a BB we just can't have a decent check/call range. One of the options is just to move a flush draws from betting to a check/call range but it's kinda meh. The second option is to put some good overpairs to a x/c range - I was thinking about a AhAx, KhKx etc but I decided to let them be in a betting range. The third option is to move weak pairs to a check/call range but I am not a big fan of playing here let's say 76s as a x/c. I am feeling kinda like I don't see any good solution here, so my x/c range consists a weak Jx, AK (but maybe AQ is a solid option too?) and some flush draws.

SB vs CO - 7c 5c 3s

My thoughts:
That's another example of a board where I want to cbet all of my value hands I don't want what to put into my x/c range. I am certain that I don't want to x/c here any overpair, I don't want to x/c here hands like AJ or 98s. I decided that AJ without Ac is not worthy of even x/c here but now I have some doubts about it. We have good equity and BU has here almost nothing, so BU will have a lower betting frequency here. Because of that, I assume that our unbalanced x/c range maybe is not a big deal here.

I hope you have enjoyed.

See you tomorrow.

12th February 2019 report:
ad. a)
BB vs BU - Ah Qs 2c

My thoughts:
No x/r range here. We can defend by x/c almost 52% of a range, so that's okay. Probably we can create here some x/r range from combos like sets and A2, but maybe let's try something different with this. Now the problem is that in BB x/c range there are hands like 88 and 77 and I am not very happy to call them here. Unfortunately, there are no better combos, so that's a hard compromise.

BB vs SB - Ah Qs 9s

My thoughts:
Similar board to a previous one. Now we have a lot more good stuff to raise here, but I decided to create another calling range with whole combos​. BB can defend almost 53% out of 600 combos here! The problem is again, that BB has to call speculative hands like really low and bad backdoors, but that's the compromise here.

Today I didn't have enough time to finish another 2 boards, but I will do it in the next days anyway.

I hope you have enjoyed.

See you tomorrow.

Hello,

I didn't play FR for a few years, so I am not feeling comfortable to talk about ranges and stuff like that, but for me, it's a good fold and it would be a hero call here.
There are no bluffs in BU range and actually, you are beating only bluffs (haha) because AJ and worse won't bet here (and for the record, you are beating all Ax (except AQ ofc), even A9 and A3). He might have a flush, full house, trips and you might have a split at best.

I hope this answer helps you.

Now guys, let's make a quiz here because for me that's interesting if would you call here with (yes, I know that you won't open them from MP but let's have fun):
a) Kh2h?
b) JhTh?
c) 5h4h?
d) KhQd?
e) Qd8d?