Posts Tagged ‘polarized range’

Q: If you find time i want your opinion about a hand i played in a EPT side event with a pokerstars pro from Argentina (i don’t remember his name but he won the high roller event last year at EPT London i think)…
With 75/150 blinds and about 9000 effective stack he raised from UTG+1 to 400. Everybody folded to me in button with AJs.
I thought he had a wider than tight players open range so i called.
Flop: 4-T-T rainbow… he bet 650.. I called
Turn: J … he bet 1450 and I called
River: K and he moved all in ( he had more ) and I folded…
The question is are you find my calls to loose?
At flop i thought i call to see his turn reaction… At turn I lost from a Tx, 44, JJ-AA so i call again as i thought he bet with much more hands… But the river? Its obviously great bluffing card but also now i loose from many more hands in his range…  Read the complete post...

One of my primary goals when coaching poker is to help my students think more creatively and situationally, to consider all of their options rather than just doing what they think is “standard”. They learn to find value in places they hadn’t thought to look for it by thinking through all aspects of a situation rather than focusing narrowly on their own holding. One common example of this is learning when and how to play unpaired hands for showdown value, usually but not always as bluff-catchers. Initially, many people are very uncomfortable calling with a hand like Ace-high. They might consider bluffing with it, but they usually have trouble recognizing opportunities to show it down as the best hand in all but the smallest pots.

I got an IM yesterday from a student who’s worked with me for a few months. He is originally from Paris, and though he now lives in Manhattan, he played this hand at a French casino while visiting his mother for the holidays. It couldn’t be a better example of what I’m trying to help my students achieve, and I am really proud both of this student and of the progress he has made:  Read the complete post...

Villain had high Attempt to Steal and post-flop aggression. I debated 3-betting, since I’m well ahead of his pre-flop range, but I didn’t want to fold to a 4-bet, and I think getting it in pre is kinda light. It’s probably slightly +EV, but I hate giving away the advantage of position by just shoveling all the money in immediately. I’d say I was able to achieve a better outcome:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 (t6200)
MP2 (t4885)
MP3 (t18909)
CO (t8649)
Button (t9197)
SB (t18572)
Hero (BB) (t8618)
UTG (t4020)
UTG+1 (t10725)

Hero’s M: 17.95

Preflop: Hero is BB with K♣, Q♣
7 folds, SB bets t400, Hero calls t200

Flop: (t980) 2♣, A♣, 9♠ (2 players)
SB bets t400, Hero calls t400

Turn: (t1780) 10♥ (2 players)
SB bets t600, Hero calls t600

River: (t2980) 2♠ (2 players)
SB bets t1400, Hero calls t1400

Total pot: t5780

Results:
SB had Q♦, J♠ (one pair, twos).
Hero had K♣, Q♣ (one pair, twos).
Outcome: Hero won t5780  Read the complete post...

This week’s WYP didn’t prove too controversial, but it generated some good discussion nonetheless. I must say that I’m a little disappointed more of you weren’t tempted to make the same mistake I did:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2845.40)
BB ($1543.40)
UTG ($798.80)
Hero (MP) ($1573.80)
CO ($2739.30)
Button ($664.40)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q♥, K♥
UTG bets $18, Hero calls $18, 2 folds, SB calls $15, BB calls $12

Flop: ($79.20) K♠, Q♦, 7♥ (4 players)
SB bets $39, 1 fold, UTG calls $39, Hero raises to $159.90, SB calls $120.90, 1 fold

Turn: ($438) 9♦ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($438) 4♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $284.25, SB raises to $2666.30 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $1006.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB didn’t show
Outcome: SB won $1003.50

I think the consensus among the commenters is correct and checking is better. Even at the time part of me was thinking it wouldn’t be easy to get called by worse and I could get raised by both better and worse. But, like Fuel55, I then told myself that checking top two would be too weak. Nate made the case for checking very well:  Read the complete post...

This hand occurred at a PokerStars deep table, meaning that the maximum buyin is $1500 and there’s an ante ($0.60 I believe) in addition to the blinds. I’ve never seen Villain before, but he seems both very aggressive and very good. He’s 36/21 with 8% 3-bet. I haven’t seen him take much to showdown (which is in itself an indication of skill), but he’s consistently bet and raised in what seem like good spots. I’ll be happy to answer questions about why I played the way I did before the river, but I’m going to wait until Friday when I post the results so as not to give away anything about my own thinking. You’ve got top two on the river: what’s your play?

No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Hold’em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2845.40)
BB ($1543.40)
UTG ($798.80)
Hero (MP) ($1573.80)
CO ($2739.30)
Button ($664.40)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q♥, K♥
UTG bets $18, Hero calls $18, 2 folds, SB calls $15, BB calls $12

Flop: ($72) K♠, Q♦, 7♥ (4 players)
SB bets $39, 1 fold, UTG calls $39, Hero raises $159.90, SB calls $120.90, 1 fold

Turn: ($430.80) 9♦ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($430.80) 4♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero?

I’ve now got three Thinking Poker Tournament Seminars under the belt, and they keep getting better every time. The next seminar will be held at 11AM Eastern time on Monday, December 19. The topic will be Advanced Flop Fundamentals, and it will take one of my most popular PokerSavvy Plus video series as a starting point on which to build more advanced skills. This seminar will include a free one-month subscription to PokerSavvy Plus.

Thinking Poker Tournament Seminars are pre-scheduled, small-group discussions focused on the most common mistakes and skills gaps that I see in my NLHE tournament students. Each two-hour seminar costs $150 per person and is capped at five participants, to enable individualized attention and opportunities for everyone to ask questions and participate in discussions. The content is prepared and the discussion facilitated by me- it’s like an interactive poker video!

Participants will learn how about alternatives to the continuation bet, how to deal with donk bets, when to slowplay, and how correct flop play varies with stack and pot size. My Flop Fundamentals video series will be required viewing in advance of the seminar, because everything we discuss will build on those concepts while getting more in-depth and sophisticated. Playing common flop spots well is essential to tournament success, so you don’t want to miss this seminar!  Read the complete post...

Thanks again for all the great comments on this week’s What’s Your Plan?. I was a little worried since the question was more open-ended than usual, but once again we had a lot of really though-provoking contributions. I actually write about this hand in some detail in the new issue of Two Plus Two Magazine, so I’m mostly going to refer you to that for my thoughts and address a few of the comments, starting with Prabhat:

“Putting this person on a range is very difficult as a result of his unusual stats. I can’t help but think that if this person really plays 18/17 over an adequate sample size, its virtually impossible that he flat-calls a lot of suited connectors here. If he calls T9s, he also calls JTs and 78s etc, and this already makes his flatting range much wider than 1%. I find it tough to believe that he doesn’t flat anything except from the CO and Button. Accordingly, I will slightly discount the suited connector portion of his range. ”  Read the complete post...

Sorry for the recent lack of posts; it’s been a busy week. I don’t have a lot to say about this one, it’s just a fun hand that I played today:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($618)
UTG ($884.80)
Hero (MP) ($1112)
CO ($673.35)
Button ($935.05)
SB ($603)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A♠, Q♣
1 fold, Hero bets $21, 1 fold, Button calls $21, 2 folds

Flop: ($51) 8♥, 8♦, 6♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $36.30, Button calls $36.30

Turn: ($123.60) 6♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $108, Hero calls $108

River: ($339.60) 3♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $389, Hero calls $389

Total pot: $1117.60 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had J♥, 9♥ (two pair, eights and sixes).
Hero had A♠, Q♣ (two pair, eights and sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $1114.60