Balancing your check-raising range

well there's that stat called "fold to flop c/r", adjust accordingly

if you only get folds then c/r all your gutters etc

Originally posted by gavinonymous
Is it possible? At the micros, I doubt many are ever check-raise bluffing.

Would it be better to balance your donking range, and leave out check-raises altogether? I find I only get folds, and think I'm losing value.

I don't have a donking range at all, really.
Almost any time I think I might want to, I x/r instead.

If you (for example) call vs a BTN raise from BB, and the flop is dry, try x/r just for the fun of it.

So many people believe as the bold phrase in the quote.
If they truly believe that, bluff away -- don't overdo it though. We don't want them to catch on.

Cheers,
--VS

Originally posted by gavinonymous
Is it possible? At the micros, I doubt many are ever check-raise bluffing.

Would it be better to balance your donking range, and leave out check-raises altogether? I find I only get folds, and think I'm losing value.

cr is certainly possible but rare at micros
u shd be able to cr and donk w same hand so ppl find it hard to read you.

I would also add that balancing isn't really the best thing to focus on at micros (I'm not paying huge attention to that at low stakes either). Player pools are huge and on average they don't notice and remember or make a note of a lot of stuff so you get away with being just super exploitive and win much more that way. Although, before you know how to exploit someone, a balanced approach is good, I'd just focus much more on getting better at finding the exploitable spots quicker and taking better advantage of them

I only play micros but on occasion I come across a reg who will chk/r a flop on a dry board say K62r with a low pp like 7s or 8s something like that. Most times it's nutty stuff though, not many of those guys around at nl5/nl10.

Usually - and I think I may have said this before - balance at the microstakes is a beer in each hand.

Um you should just c/r every flop you can then and move out of micros in a week...

That being said I play micros and I c/r bluff a lot. There was recently a good class on it (think it was bierbaer), so go check that out if your status allows it.

To anwser your question directly, I only balance against people that I know are adapting to my plays. Generally I compare peoples stats vs me to stats in general (in this case 2bet flop). But so far in micros I've done this against 2 people ♠_biggrin:
In other cases it's one extreme or another. They will either call down c/r way too lightly (make a note, only c/r strongest draws and made hands until you find out your exact value range) or they will fold way too much (work out an autoprofit between your bet sizing and their fold to c/r and put that on your HUD, then make a c/r bluff range).

If villains at your limit always believe you when you c/r, you should be doing it a ridiculous amount of the time until they adjust. If they call you can just give up.

I would defend very wide & just raise a ton of flops. Obv depending on their RFI, cbet, cbet/fold, WTS etc

Originally posted by dannywratten
If villains at your limit always believe you when you c/r, you should be doing it a ridiculous amount of the time until they adjust. If they call you can just give up.

I would defend very wide & just raise a ton of flops. Obv depending on their RFI, cbet, cbet/fold, WTS etc

I agree, except for the ridiculous part.
If you x/r flops too much, they will adjust much, much faster.

How big do you x/r?
Do you fold if they re-raise? Or 3Bet them?

I don't really have a "check/raising range". SO much depends on the flop texture, hand strength and draw potential. I don't want to knock a guy out of the hand OTF if I stand to take even more of his $ on later streets if I x/c the flop.

On the other hand, knocking a guy out of the hand when BU Cbets a Q62r flop is easy.
If you hold squat -- you just made some money when he folds.
If you hold squat and he calls -- you just made HIM some money.

If you have a piece of the flop -- decent draw, 2nd pair or bottom 2pr for example, then It doesn't matter to you if he folds or calls.

Peace,
--VS

Well yeh, I guess by 'ridiculous' I was just emphasizing that I would do it a lot ♦

I'm assuming OP is talking like NL25 or lower so I wouldn't worry about being exploited in any way.

I would usually c/r somewhere around 3x or so, depending on board texture, but if I had a read that they just look at their hand missing the board & immediately fold I might make it slightly smaller to save money.

Generally if people were just folding a ton to c/raises & they play back, I would just give up.
As a starting point I would c/r some GS's BDFD's maybe bottom pair with BD draw so we can barrel equity. Then the more they fold the wider I raise.

Even at NL50 or NL100 I think I play very exploitable until their stats tell me to do otherwise.