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No guest this week, just thorough strategy talk. Andrew brags about a deep run in a free poker tournament, we break down a hand from a 6-handed WSOP prelim event, and we discuss the first third of Tommy Angelo’s Elements of … Read full post
This is the fourth hand of a six-max tournament on a .FR site. Hero (who is not me) and Villain are both readless on each other. Blinds are 50/100, both players have roughly 20K to start the hand.
Villain opens to 205 from the HJ, Hero calls with As Th … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Out of Position With a Flush Draw.
Pre-Flop
A few people questioned/criticized the pre-flop call, and rightfully so. I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s literally marginal, meaning it’s a close decision that’s extremely sensitive to small changes in a … Read full post
Early in the $320 6-max WCOOP event. Hero has been an unremarkable TAG so far, and Villain even more so. Villain, over a small sample of hands, is 15/10 with 22% Attempt to Steal.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (6 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB … Read full post
I’ve gotten pretty far behind on my daily WCOOP/Montreal reports, but now that the series is over, I’ve got more time (and not so much else to blog about!), so let’s pick up where we left off. My last of these posts dealt with Wednesday September 12, so we’ll … Read full post
The PLO8 WCOOP event began at 6AM my time on Thursday. I tend to wake early anyway, so I didn’t set an alarm but expected to be up in time to late register it. By 7:30 I was at my computer with coffee in hand. I didn’t even realize it … Read full post
Q: While reading Sylvain’s discussion of his hands with Bonomo, I wondered how best to handle such an aggressive player. Sylvain described his style of pushing back against the aggro. I wondered if you can ever counter aggression with passive play, such as calling multiple streets. Then, near the … Read full post
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play?
I consider the nut flush draw one of the most interesting hands in no-limit hold ’em. Not only is it almost always an excellent semi-bluffing hand, but under the right circumstances it can be quite good at bluff-catching … Read full post
This isn’t my proudest hand ever, but I do think it’s interesting. I never had much of a plan beyond the current street, which is why I say it isn’t my proudest moment, but I do think that each street has the potential to be profitable in a vacuum. FWIW … Read full post
I haven’t played poker since the end of the SCOOP. This morning I had a little time and played about an hour of Rush. The hotel internet left something to be desired, so I just played two tables. The combination of not having played in a while and having no … Read full post
I’ve just published two new poker strategy articles, both of which are available to read for free! Beginning and immediate players should check out “Calling is Not a Compromise” in the pages of Cardplayer magazine. This article addresses one of the most common errors in thinking that I see among … Read full post
High
I busted the $2K turning top pair into a bluff in a blind battle. I thought he was probably light on the turn, so I called planning to call blank rivers. His sizing on the river, combined with the fact that I felt I could represent a flush draw … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on last week’s “What’s Your Play? Four Flush on the River” post.
Calling
I want to begin my analysis by quickly ruling out calling as an option. Virtually every hand Villain would have called to the river now beats us: middle pair … Read full post
Happy Queensday everyone! Queensday is a huge national celebration in the Netherlands that falls on the day of the previous queen’s birth (the current one was born at an inconvenient time so they continue to celebrate on the last day of April). Last night was a huge city-wide party in … Read full post
Finally took a break from gallivanting around Prague to try out the new Zoom poker. It’s a lot of fun, pretty much identical to Rush though if anything a touch slower, but still pretty great. Unfortunately I didn’t adapt well to the nittiness of a small-stakes full-ring game and lost … Read full post
Q: I have seen a french poker video in which 2 players discuss about a hand played by one of these player on a french online tournament (6max, buy in 100€).
This is the hand :
Blinds 250/500 ante 60.
Hero is the CO with AcTs.
utg folds.
utg +1 … Read full post
I’ve now got another video up with Poker School Online, the PokerStars training site. This one focuses on mid-stakes no-limit hold ’em and specifically on hand reading, so it’s a nice option if the last video I posted was too basic for you. Again, if you like this, please … Read full post
PokerStars’ Poker School Online recently released a video that I made for them quite some time ago (as evidenced by my introduction of myself as “one of the newest members of Team Online”). It’s very basic, strategy-wise – I’m playing one table of $.05/$.10 6-max NLHE – but if that’s … Read full post
A friend shared this hand with me, and I thought it was a solid example of a good, creative line. The small bet on the flop helps him draw cheaply, establishes who if anyone is interested in the pot, and depending on what happens with regard to (2) possibly sets … Read full post
I just published a review of one of the best and most advanced poker books I’ve encountered, the 3rd Edition of Andrew “BalugaWhale” Seidman’s Easy Game. It’s probably too advanced for your average recreational player, but if you want to be a serious competitor at no-limit hold ’em it’s … Read full 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 … Read full post
Sorry again for the error in my original What’s Your Plan? post. It certainly wasn’t deliberate, but in a weird way it did help to highlight one of the central points of this exercise, which is the significance of Villain’s pre-flop stats and our general read on him.
Most … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (5 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB (t3023)
Hero (BB) (t3978)
UTG (t4344)
MP (t2230)
Button (t1910)
Hero’s M: 53.04
Preflop: Hero is BB with Q♥, K♠
1 fold, MP bets t100, 2 folds, Hero calls … Read full post
I tanked for a bit before calling this pre-flop, because it is a little light given our positions, but the dynamic was right. It wasn’t what I was going for, but when he checked the flop I realized that the tank-call may, in his eyes, increase the likelihood that I’m … Read full 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) … Read full post
One nice side benefit of teaching is that forces the teacher to crystallize his own knowledge and learn concepts more thoroughly in the process. In my recent Big Bluffs seminar I talked about how people will usually bet a flush draw on the flop if they have one, which means … Read full post
I’m blown away by the number of responses Monday’s What’s Your Play? post received. It produced some great discussion that was instructive even for me, so a big thanks to all of you who commented. I know I didn’t interact with your comments as much as I usually do, but … Read full post
The next installment in the Thinking Poker Tournament Seminar series will be on Saturday, December 3rd, Noon-2 PM Eastern. The topic will be Playing Out of Position: Value Betting, Bluffing, and Getting to Showdown. Virtually all of the toughest spots in poker arise from playing out of position, … Read full post
We had an interesting discussion in last week’s Extracting Value seminar about slowplaying on wet boards (i.e. when there are a fair number of draws possible). It’s overall not a great idea, but I do advocate doing it with often with top set. Good hand readers don’t expect you to … Read full post
This is from the PokerStars $150 6-max Sunday tournament. People are often surprised by calls that I make out of the big blind when I’m getting very good odds. I don’t know how helpful it is when I say things like, “The more you feel that you have a skill … Read full post
I didn’t expect Villain to much Kx in his flatting range. Then again, I wouldn’t have expected him to flat the hand he showed up with, either, so maybe that’s a bad read. In any event, I felt I was in very good shape versus his betting range but a … Read full post
I’m really upset at myself for spewing off my stack in the 4-max. It’s such a fun tournament, especially in the early stages when everyone is really deep and trying to play loose aggressive. Many otherwise good tournament players are just clueless about playing wide ranges super-deep and seem to … Read full post
I played so badly in the $265 that there weren’t even hands worth posting. Here are some interesting ones from the Second Chance, though.
The Villains in Hand 1 both have nitty pre-flop stats, so I think 7’s are extremely unlikely for either of them (not to mention that I’m … Read full post
Edit: Oh snap! I just saw that Villain in this hand went on to win the tournament! And it was his second WCOOP bracelet. Congratulations 2FLY2TILT!
I skipped the PL Draw event because I don’t know how to play that game, and I registered three hours into the Triple Stud … Read full post
I played all of today’s WCOOPs but only did anything notable in the $320 6-handed shootout. My starting table feature PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis, thankfully on my right, and four players I didn’t recognize. I’d been playing aggressively against Lex, generally with the best hand, and finally he’d had enough. … Read full post
It’s a clear and lovely evening here in Canmore, great for unwinding after a long day of poker.
I played both of the $200 WCOOP events today but didn’t last long in either. Honestly I consider that a fine result. The one thing I dread every time WCOOP rolls around … Read full post
I had a very frustrating 11th place finish in the $150 6-max today. Lost a huge coin flip. It’s a good thing that’s the last thing I was playing because it was the most frustrated I’ve let myself get in months. Anyway, here are two key hands.
CO was a … Read full post
Here’s an archived hand that illustrates a key point from my Betting for Protection article. The idea is that you don’t have to worry about protecting against a draw if you expect your opponent to bluff very often when he misses his draw. Essentially your implied odds from catching bluffs … Read full post
Here’s an interesting hand that one of my students shared with me. We’d been working on bet-sizing, and his assignment for the week was to find spots to under- and over-bet the pot.
His reads here were that the BTN was a weak regular and the BB was on the … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, “Having a Plan For a Hand“, is now appearing on Part Time Poker:
In this article, I want to consider a hand that at first glance may look like just a lucky flop against a bad player. In truth, however, I think the … Read full post
Surprise, surprise, I’m just now making plans for where I’m going to be and what I’ll be doing a few weeks from now! I’m going to the Rio for the first week of June to hit a few of the WSOP prelims, specifically:
June 2: Event 4 $5000 NLHE
June … Read full post
Found this sort of interesting hand while randomly perusing the database. I don’t know for sure that I would have folded to a turn barrel, but I think Villain definitely ought to bet, and if I know that he isn’t betting this, then folding 88h on the turn is easy:… Read full post
…but this guy managed. He almost got there, too:
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($170.35)
Hero ($250)
BB ($1351.95)
UTG ($258.90)
MP ($456.15)
CO ($96.50)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 7c, As, 5h, Ac.
UTG calls $1, MP raises to … Read full post
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP ($263.80)
CO ($250)
Button ($362.30)
SB ($264.20)
Hero ($250)
UTG ($166.90)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Ah, 4c, Ac, Tc.
UTG calls $1, 1 fold, CO raises to $5.2, Button calls $5.20, SB … Read full post
BTN and SB both seem fishy, not just because of their stacks but because they are respectively 100/20 and 55/9, albeit over small samples. I felt like they’d both have a lot of random crap and I could drive them out of the pot and get it heads up with … Read full post
…so overbet-overbet it is:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
UTG ($518.95)
MP ($500)
Button ($538.90)
SB ($211.55)
Hero ($1162.75)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 7s, 7d.
2 folds, Button raises to $6, SB calls $5, Hero calls $4.
Flop: ($18.80) … Read full post
Villain’s hand looks so much like a busted draw that I was afraid I was getting leveled. I had to double-check the board to confirm that it really made no sense for him to play any value hand this way before snapping him off:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2 BB (4 … Read full post
Also, fold the river:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t80 (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
UTG (t1560)
MP (t3290)
CO (t6660)
Hero (t4198)
SB (t3839)
BB (t1453)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 7h, 9h.
3 folds, Hero raises to t160, SB raises to … Read full post
I have no idea what to make of his flop min-check-raise as the pre-flop raiser, but I seriously doubt he can stand a turn raise. I just don’t see him doing this with either 2 pair+ or a good draw. My intention was to raise just about any card. Be … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero (t14702)
UTG (t30344)
MP (t15991)
CO (t16405)
Button (t34712)
SB (t61552)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Ks, 9s.
3 folds, Button raises to t1200, 1 fold, Hero calls t600.
Flop:… Read full post
I didn’t realize it at the time or I would have raised the flop, but this is one of those interesting PLO situations where my draw is a pretty solid favorite against the nuts:
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
UTG ($339.20)… Read full post
I figured Villain’s river range was nuts/bluffs, and given that this was a backdoor draw and the flop draws missed, there’d be enough bluffs to warrant a call. I hadn’t counted on this:
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($655.40)
SB … Read full post
I’ve never really been a grinder, one of those online poker players who plays 10+ tables at once, cursor and attention whizzing from monitor to monitor so quickly that they have only seconds to think about they want to play any given hand. For me, 4 tables is common, and … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who played in the inaugural Thinking Poker cash game last night. We had our share of technical difficulties:
1. When I set the stakes at $.10/$.25 and 100-250BB buy-in, I somehow thought that would mean a $2.50-$6.25 buy-in range. Of course it’s actually 10x that, so we … Read full post
Edit: The buy-in for the tournament will be $5+$.50.
Second edit: The invite code is “foucault”, I’m told you need that join. Sorry for the confusion.
Third edit: Invite code is all lowercase.
I’m pleased to announce that I’m starting a Thinking Poker League on the new PokerStars Home Game … Read full post
Sucks to check-fold rockets getting 3.5:1 but there’s just nothing I beat. Any worse hand has showdown value and checks back river, methinks
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($142)
UTG ($268)
MP ($173.50)
CO ($463.25)
Button ($406)
Hero ($402)
Preflop: Hero … Read full post
Sorry that I was slow in posting results and lax about responding to comments. Not only was I moving over the weekend (got a place in Boston for a few months- more on this soon), but I also took ill. In retrospect eating a pre-made tuna sandwich from a rest … Read full post
This hand is a good example of being aware of your own range and what your hand will look like to Villain. I had recently folded to a triple barrel from this same Villain, who generally exhibits very aggressive tendencies. I had no idea whether that history would make him … Read full post
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($288.45)
BB ($99.70)
UTG ($238.20)
MP ($110.80)
Button ($250)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Qh, Kh, Jc, Ts.
2 folds, Button raises to $2.5, Hero raises to $9.5, 1 fold, Button … Read full post
Villain is an excellent NLHE player and surely competent enough to read my hand and play well in this spot. I feel like there are no just good options with my hand on a flop like this because it’s essentially face up.
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $2 BB (5 handed) … Read full post
I think my line looks pretty damn strong here. Obviously it’s not going to work when Villain has trips himself, but I feel like he has a lot of TT-AA here as well (not to mention AK before he calls turn).
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (6 handed) Hand History … Read full post
In NLHE, I pretty much always choose to call rather than re-raise-get-it-in when I have position and suspect some sort of coinflip situation (overs vs. pair pre-flop, top pair vs. big draw on the flop, etc.). I figure that between position and superior skill, I ought to be able to … Read full post
Villain is clearly bluffing on the river- his line makes no sense with any strong hand except 44, and even that may not call a river shove (it’s a lot more plausible for me to check a set on the river than for him to do so, given that I … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who sounded off on the special HUD edition of “What’s Your Play?”. As always your comments were thought-provoking, and I was actually led to conclude that the answer isn’t as open-and-shut as I thought.
I’ll start by giving you the results, and then I’ll let you … Read full post
I think this is one of the worst hands I’ve played in a while:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($646.60)
SB ($1000)
Hero (BB) ($1000)
UTG ($458)
MP ($2288.55)
CO ($1148)
Preflop: Hero is BB with K
, Q
2 … Read full post
The first video in my new four-part series about HUD-based decision making and using statistics to exploit opponents has just gone live at Poker Savvy Plus. In conjunction with that, I’ve got a twist on the old “What’s Your Play?” series. In this hand, calling or folding are your … Read full post