Chris Barker

Amazing video. Just caused a massive shift in my thought process. I am interested in how we will realise the necessary equity when playing so wide. It seems like we are going to get into a ton of sticky situations, which will yield progress in the long term, but could cause a slew of problems in the interim. I would be interested in seeing some spots where you are fighting to realise your necessary level of equity exploring board textures / reg types / stats that we can bluff catch / chk raise / donk etc. I think I could end up easily over adjusting and either being too passive and value owning myself or getting too feisty and spewing.

Very interesting though - great video.

Actually as the video went on you did read them less and less and really explained your notes really well. My comment read as a little dickish - sorry. It was meant to be constructive. This is a great series and is really opening my mind. I have realised just how much I am losing in the blinds and have already seen some gains,

Really good video content wise, but I think you should consider how to improve the presentation. You essentially read out the slides that you have typed up. So, the slide flashes up, I read it and then I wait while you read it again. You should really write shorter slides and expand on key points orally.

Yeah, I tended to put him on 89 - my line looks very strong, so I just cannot see a hand we beat really. 89 makes sense as we are deep and he might have called the flop raise to try and catch, gained more outs on the turn and then got there.

Bigzfish - what bet size do you think is better on the river? I think people will call that river with a lower range than our bottom set - there are tons of weak 200nl players who would just think we are messing deep and might even call off QQ+.

WM2K - seeing as we are nearly 200bb deep I think c/r is a must in order to try and get a good amount of money in.

If he has seen us jam once out of two times (I want to know which pair he has seen us jam) then he is unlikely to be 3betting particularly light vs our stack size, again, we have folded before, but with how many bb? I think 77 would be right at the bottom of our 4bet jamming range, so we should definitely think about folding, It is close. But I am sure for the sake of folding 2bb, that we can find a better spot with 22bb left to make a better profit long term.

If we jam here we are really hoping for a fold. The quality of the field does make jamming more appealing, but I am not super pleased about getting it in here. I also think that with ICM, there will certainly be better spots with 20bb left and on the FT bubble - I think folding is the better option. The more I watch the best players play/videos, the more I see many of them willing to fold more tightly than I would in close spots. I think that folding is likely to be more profitable long term in terms of ICM.

In game, I would often shove here, run into a bigger hand and feel a little regretful that I didn't stop and think. How frequently does he 3 bet the from the BB? What underpair has he seen you 4 bet jam? I think those are two important questions. It is pretty unlikely that he is 3bet folding, so his range is probably ahead of 77.

Limping is only a decent option if you are planning to fold to a 3 bet, otherwise I am not huge fan. Nearly every flop is going to look pretty grim.

I think some would advocate jamming as it takes the thought out of it and puts max pressure on. I am not a huge fan as it feels a little spewy with 22bb.

Raise folding feels pretty weak, but can we wait and find a better spot? You are really guessing here and it also depends how loose you think the BB will call. If he is calling as low as 88, KQ, AJ it gets even stickier.

Stop and going is an option - the flat could confuse the BB and looks kind of strong on a weird way.

I can't really help with the math. Instinctively I think it is a jam, but ICM wise it is probably smarter to fold and wait for a better spot although I feel pretty weak advocating this.

I think you were pretty lucky and I don't know why you think he would fold Ax there? With that line I would snap you off on that board. The only hand you rep is JJ, which you might check back the flop with - although the dryness would make a bet more profitable. I guess you might check 54s? To me, it looks like a pretty bad bluff unless you think he has caught the J and has more showdown value than your tt. But if I was him and I even had a J, I'd be thinking you can't have JJ pretty much ever if I have the J and I'd probably call.

I have been working a lot in turning hands into bluffs on the river which have showdown value but less than the villain's perceived range - you need a line which makes much more sense, reps a broader range and is credible. I don't think you meet any of those criteria. In short,I think it is a bad bluff and a good reg would call any A and probably J too.

This is a really odd spot that doesn't come up too often. It is easy to shrug and go 'standard rejam' but it does suggest either massive strength or he could have a raise gold range too. He'll have like 7bb on the btn next hand where he could recoup his losses. How about flatting? We can get a v honest answer on his strength by how he plays flop. Admittedly we will find some flops v tough to fold, but it gives us more information rather than guessing. It also depends on how good they are. All good players would rip here, but a fish could open fold.

In game I probably would jam quite wide. I mean, it seems crazy just to fold 9s even though his range might be so strong. If your image is crazy it can look like be trying to induce a jam too. Tricky spot even though it can seem kind of trivial. Not really sure - a min raise looks like AA/KK but does depend on how he plays. Interested to see what others think, but flatting is interesting?

The K7 hand makes far more sense imo to raise the flop because obviously there are far more terrible turn cards, our hand is way more vulnerable and there are more hands that will jam over us here - pair plus draws, even A6 etc. I think playing both hands the same way seems odd seeing as they texture of the boards and our relative hand strength is pretty different.

James, really enjoying the series. I have two questions:
1) With the AK hand when you are led into, we would perceive this lead as being weak, so I am not convinced that raising is the best option. Yes, there are some cards that we would not be thrilled to see on the turn, but there are far, far more cards which we are not especially worried about and can draw more value from. I think raising here pretty much shuts the hand down, which isn't a terrible thing, but is not necessarily the most +chip ev line? What do you and others think?

2) The A5ss hand, where you jam to the UTG raiser - what is your range for doing this? Are you jamming KQ and small to medium pairs here too? I am guessing you are, but am interested to know. What about stronger hands? Do you 3 bet to induce? Do you have a flatting range here? I think I might flat small pairs, but rip 66 up - tricky spot when so close to FT. I know the answer to these questions is player dependent / read dependent, so what is your 'standard' line and why?

Thanks

I really don't see how this is anything other than a fold once you are raised. If you think he has air, surely you should check jam rather than either get to showdown and probably be behind even Q high? Otherwise you have to bet when you do not rep very much. I just don't see how this line is profitable.

I tend to agree with what others have said - you may well be right on his raising range, but you are not going to be able to do anything about it oop with JTo, and it really is a fold pre. Perhaps what you are suggesting is the difficulty we can create by raising dry boards in position. You are so shallow that I don't think you should be trying to do anything fancy. Even deep, what is your plan for the hand?

In terms of the range I would say more weighted towards air, but it is tough to know without reads./stats?

Really interested in the KQ call - I would NEVER call there - haven't heard the results of you charting it, but would be surprised if it is profitable.

77 in the sb with 30 bigs - I am inclined to call for the most part. I am not keen on ripping it, for the sake of winning the 350 we are putting a decent stack at risk when you obviously have a good skill edge. Surely, there are better edges to be had?