Jaccuzzi

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

First of all i like card games and i think of poker more like a hobby. So i can say i play poker because it's fun for me. Secondly it's a good feeling when you made a right read against some player even if you lost, but you know you've done right thing. Of course the money is a big reason. I think the things like body language in live poker and learning to read it could be used in real life (i hope to learn to read it someday though).

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?
I think it's hardest for me to disguise between a good player betting with monster cards and a bad palyer just bluffing or thinking that his midle pair is unbeatable(getting confused when i have evaluate where i stand with something like top pair while flush is posible). I maybe playing too much without doing breaks, trying to caught up the time i lost while not playing poker(i need more discipline but i trying to work on it).

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight-aggressive?
A TAG I think is the player who is aggresive, but has a feel for it. He plays relatively small amount of cards and plays them all the same way, so oponents can't figure out whether he has the best hand or not. Tag adjusts his game to his opponents play style. So he isn't stuck with some card range but he can vary it according to his opponents. If his opponents are loose he plays tighter and if they are tight he plays looser but more cautious. And on every street he tries to evaluate where he stands and what would be opp moves and acts according to his evaluation. Tag doesn't calculate how much money he put into pot already he only thinks how much he can win and if its profitable to play any longer. Of course he doesn't think about one hand badbeat he sees only the day/week/month outcome.

Hi Jaccuzzi,

Welcome to our Beginners Course!

Good luck with your studies and see you on the forum.

Ingrid

Hello Jaccuzzi,

Seems that if you are trying to play too many hands you as well get a bit titly. Therefore you have to find a way to fight against a tilt. Easiest wait to fight against tilt is to set up stop-loss technique. Which means if you for example have lost more than 3BIs for a session then you just stop the session for some time. The BI amount is set up from your own wanting. Some may put it higher, some lower. And after the stop you can easily just spend some time with evaluating your play.

Most of the other weakness you wrote can easily be fixed with you posting hands. We will start writing feedback to your play. And usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you loose money, you will remember it more than winning part.

Good luck in the Course. Earned your first points.

Originally posted by veriz
Hello Jaccuzzi,

Seems that if you are trying to play too many hands you as well get a bit titly. Therefore you have to find a way to fight against a tilt. Easiest wait to fight against tilt is to set up stop-loss technique. Which means if you for example have lost more than 3BIs for a session then you just stop the session for some time. The BI amount is set up from your own wanting. Some may put it higher, some lower. And after the stop you can easily just spend some time with evaluating your play.

Most of the other weakness you wrote can easily be fixed with you posting hands. We will start writing feedback to your play. And usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you loose money, you will remember it more than winning part.

Good luck in the Course. Earned your first points.

I play too many hands because i get bored waiting for the hand i tried SH tables but in my oppion there you have to play more on your opponent and less on your hand than in FR. And i don't think i am that experienced but i still play them sometimes.
I have difficulty spotting how loose opponents are without stats(i play at work so can't have stats there) any suggestions how to spot them ? i see if player doesn't play at all or play a lot but those who play like 15%-30% of hands i can't see the difference

I think i get tilty when i'm sure that i played right but some lucky fish takes the pot and i have a bad habit that i take bigger buyin 200BB so i can win my stack back and if that fish gots lucky again i'm steaming !

I'm ready for all feedback either its good or bad as long as it can improve my game. BTW you can always make a feedback about my linguistic mistakes
Funny thing the more theory i read the more confused i am.
Should i read silver level theory while playing in limits like NL2 ? or should i wait till i move up a limit to at least NL10 ?

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than how it is in the BSS Starting Hands Chart, and why? (Are there any hands you would play differently? Do you have a problem or question about how a specific hand or hands are to be played?)
First of all i think The small pocket pairs i tend to raise with them preflop from all positions
in my defence: if we can still achieve profit with call20 rule then why not raise we usualy raise 4BB-5BB*20 ~80-100BB which is good for call 20 rule. But with the raise we get the initiative and some fold equity even if opp reraises we can call with call15 rule.
Second the suited connectors/suited aces i call with them from midle position if there are 2-3 limps or even call a minraise if there are callers behind me. With intention to hit two pair+
i raise small suited connectors from small blind as a steal.
AT-AQ i think we can raise them from midle position.
JJ,TT i think we can reraise with them in steal situation.

Question 2: Post a hand for evaluation where you have a question regarding your pre-flop play. ( Post your hand in the Handevaluation forums, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)
NL2 QJo
i'll try to post more hands till the end of the week

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means: 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo? ( You can either calculate this yourself or use an equity calculator such as the PokerStrategy.com Equilab)

46.32% so if i am right it means that going broke with AK against even very tight player is like a coin flip.

I have difficulty spotting how loose opponents are without stats(i play at work so can't have stats there) any suggestions how to spot them ? i see if player doesn't play at all or play a lot but those who play like 15%-30% of hands i can't see the difference

It's not always the must to play with stats. If you are playing without then rather concentrate taking the notes. But of course playing meanwhile working might have too many distractions unless you have some work which doesn't have that much distraction.

Also I'd advice you to fight against tilt and the easiest wait to fight against tilt is to set up stop-loss technique. Which means if you for example have lost more than 3BIs for a session then you just stop the session for some time. The BI amount is set up from your own wanting. Some may put it higher, some lower. And after the stop you can easily just spend some time with evaluating your play.

Should i read silver level theory while playing in limits like NL2 ? or should i wait till i move up a limit to at least NL10 ?

Actually a lot of Silver theory is very good for even micro-stakes. If you do understand it then why not read it? Even if you didn't understand it you can always go back to it later or even ask from some of the community members or friends.

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

Playing PPs in smaller stakes is can be really profitable. You can always try out either you play them profitable or not by check the programs either you are doing great on early position with PPs or not and base according to that. Although as I understand you don't use tracking software that often. But playing PPs is mostly the most profitable way to earn money, in long run you will earn a lot with them if you play them correctly

Keep in mind with those SCs/AXs hands that you can as well even isolate in many different spots rather than limp in. The more comfortable you get postflop the more hands you will start isolating. SCs are the nuts. But of course keep an eye on them, they can very easily played not that so profitable and have many different leaks in it.

Hopefully you enjoy the School so far. Some more points earned.

Question 0: Download and install the Equilab. (You can download the Equilab for free from here: PokerStrategy.com Equilab)
done

Question 1: You are holding KQ. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 33? How does the equity change on the following flop: J53? (Tip: you can use the Equilab to help you with this task)

preflop 50,78% it's like coin flip.
after the flop 26,46% we are way behind

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand? (Remember that it is important to explain your reasons, simply posting "Fold" or "Call" is not sufficient)

No-Limit hold'em $2 (9 handed)

Players and stacks:
UTG: $2.00
UTG+1: $2.08
MP1: $1.92
MP2: $1.00
MP3: $3.06
CO: (Hero) $2.08
BU: $2.00
SB: $2.00
BB: $1.24

Preflop: Hero is CO with AJ.
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, BU calls $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06.

Flop: ($0.25) 263 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BU checks.

Turn: ($0.25) 5 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BU raises to $0.44, BB folds, Hero...?

call, we have flushdraw we have 9 outs 4:1 odds even if we discount 2 outs for 6 :diamond:and 3 we get odds 6:1. By calculating pot odds 0.91:0.22=> 4.13:1 good enough without discounting outs and if we discount outs we need that opp would call a bet of 0.4cents coresponding to pot of 1.13 on river and i think that is very likely he would call even a bigger bet with twopair or straight
Question 3: Post a hand for evaluation where you have a question regarding your post-flop play. (Post your hand in the hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room)

i have some problems with elephant it seems not working and to be honest dont know how to post hands fom william hill but i'll try to fix my problems and post some hands ASAP
here it is NL4 88 hit set

Good job! Homework #3 Done!

About Question #3:
There are few situations on turn:
a) If we take just odds for the FD and we take into account that all our odds are clean. There which means:
Total Pot = $0,91 ; We have to Call = $0,22 -> According to that it means we are getting ~4,16:1 odds. For flushdraw we would need 4:1. Which tells us that we are getting perfect odds.
b) If we consider the opponent having sets here:
Which means we have to discount outs, for example 6:c and also 3:c. Which means we have 7 clean outs. Which means that we need 6:1 odds. That tells us that we need ~$0,41 on river to make it profitable. If we expect the opponent being loose enough and being able to pay us no-matter what then we can do the Call here properly.
c) We might even have overcards as outs or even 4 as a out:
Although this kind of situation ain't that likely. I'd rather discount that one and either pick a) or b). Most likely towards Call.

How is it going with the WH pokersite hands?

You are doing great progress! Some more points earned.

I'm confused with hand system WH uses so i reinstaled my windows and got elephant working again.
here's my home work

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have the initiative post-flop. (Post your hand in the Hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)
NL4 AKo

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members. (Choose a hand from the Hand evaluation board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users first.)
NL2 - JJ again
Two Pair flop counter fitted

Question 3: You are on the flop with KQ. The board cards are J, 9, 8, and your opponent holds 77. What is your equity in this spot?

Equity Win Tie
MP2 41.41% 41.41% 0.00% KsQd
MP3 58.59% 58.59% 0.00% 7h7c

Good job! Homework #4 Done!

This weeks homework was a bit easier. But the idea of that is to help you go through last weeks stuff if you didn't go through everything. Or either way maybe even read some more articles, watch some videos and of course attend in the coaching. What will also help for your game is the evaluation part of other members hands and of course posting your own hands.

Hopefully this wasn't too easy homework for you. Some more points earned.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have based your decisions on the stats of your opponents. (Post your hand in the Hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)
NL4 99 hit trips against aggresive opp

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members. (Choose a hand from the Hand evaluation board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users first.)

AQs, fd+overs on flop
Nl2 - AQo

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (7 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($8)
MP2 ($9)
CO ($10)
Hero($10)
SB ($10) (17/13/2.6/24/1212) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
BB ($10) (27/9/2.0/29/333) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]

Preflop: Hero is BU with 6 , 7
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20) 3 , 3 , T (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.20) J (3 players)
SB bets $1.00, BB calls $1.00, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

we should raise to about 2.4$ because we hit FD and we have to protect it . The best scenario is that SB folds and BB calls i think. Folding i think is out of question. And calling would lead us even to a bigger trouble if another diamond shows on the river. If we get reraise we should reevualate our hand another time look at pot size and i think we can even fold if some opp decides to shove or raises a lot .
Question 4: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (8 handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($8)
MP ($10)
MP2 ($9)
MP3 ($6)
Hero ($10)
BU ($10) (25/21/3.8/26/1250) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
SB ($10)
BB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J , J
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU 3-bets to $1.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.30

Flop: ($2.75) 6 , 9 , T (2 players)
Hero...

there's two options i think we can either check for slowplay because board is dry and opponent is agressive so we have a fair chance to induce bluff.
Another option is to raise/shove because we are most times ahead against villain.

Good Job! Homework #5 Done!

About Task #3
It's a very close decision: does protection or pot control weigh heavier here? Do you want to protect against hands like 3x or A:dx and K:dx? Or do you want to control the pot size and try to induce a bluff on the river in case there is no T, no J and no additional ♦?

Raise/fold is out of question - with the given pot size and the good made hand you have, it can't even be considered.

In case you decide to go broke, you can't really be blamed either. It's not a sign of weakness that the rather tight small blind decides to bet into two people here, though. I would say a call is to be slightly favored, while the many outs against you are annoying. The big blind who calls rather loosely speaks in favor of a raise/broke again. Both options are finally considered equal, which shows - all things considered - how close and full of variance these spots really are.

About Task #4
You've called pre-flop and then hit a good board. You basically have two choices now: either you assume that your opponent will go broke loosely or puts you on a bluff often and you thus check/raise - or you play check/call in the spirit of way ahead / way behind. The problem with the latter is that there are a lot of cards you don't want to see in the later course of the hand. All in all, it depends on your balancing as both lines make sense under certain circumstances.

A check/fold would be really pointless, of course. It's hard to say whether you should donk-bet here; donk/fold can be discarded as that would turn your hand into a pure bluff and your opponent would interpret this as weakness and start raising you out of flops with hands like AK/AQ/air. So, if you want to donk-bet, it has to be a donk/3-bet.

Good luck on tables and with the School. Some more points earned.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have either a) freeplay, b) slowplay, or c) multi-way pot situation. (Post your hand in the Hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)
NL4 unraised pot

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members. (Choose a hand from the Hand evaluation board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users first.)
floating
Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$25 NL Hold'em (10 handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
UTG+1 ($25) rock
UTG+2 ($25)
MP1 ($25)
MP2 ($25) LAG
MP3 ($25) maniac
CO ($25)
Hero BU ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25) calling station

Preflop: Hero is BU with Q , J
5 folds, MP3 raises $1.00, CO calls $1.00, Hero calls $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.10) 3 , J , A (4 players)
BB checks, MP3 checks, CO checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4.10) Q (4 players)
BB bets $2.05, 2 folds, Hero...?

What action would you take, and why?
First thing that comes into mind after seeing BB(calling station) raising is that he has a monster and that i'm behind most of the times so fold is one options but considering the potsize and betsize i would call a raise on turn there's two reasons why:
1) considering that BB is calling station we are likely to stack him if we hit one of the 4 outs we have the odds is like 11:1 so considering implied pot odds we get 13:1.
2) if we didin't hit we are last to act, if BB raises we fold if he checks we check behind for free showdown i think.
Allthough the two pair looks awesome but its only midle two pair and it's unraised pot so we can throw our money into big pot with three of a kind +

Good Job! Homework #6 Done!

About Question #3:
Two lines can quickly be discarded here: fold and raise/fold; your hand is simply too strong for those alternatives.

It's hard to assess whether you should put in a raise here. When a rather passive player decides to bet into three players while being out of position, it does look strong. It's more likely an indication of a made hand than that of a draw.

A raise naturally protects, but you run the risk of isolating yourself against very strong range. Which weaker hands could your opponent possibly continue playing here?

The deciding factor finally comes in the size of the pot. This tiny pot simply isn't worth putting yourself into a tough spot where you could potentially end up risking your entire stack. A raise would be overplayed here and pot control takes the precedent over protection.

Best of Luck on tables and with the Course. Some more points earned.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have played on a 6-max table (short-handed). (Post your hand in the No Limit: Hand Evaluations forum, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)
i'll post some hand later because haven't been playing so much lately

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members (Choose a hand from the No Limit: Hand Evaluations board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users first.)
NL2 A6 with FD on Flop
Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB (Hero) ($10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5 , 4
2 folds, CO raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) 3 , 2 , Q (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.20, CO Raises All-in, BU calls All-in, SB folds, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?
i think we should call, we have flush draw+oesd CO is most likely to have hand like QQ+/AQ+ and BU is likely to hit twopair+ even though we still ave ~ 45% equity with our monster draw. Even if BU should fold instead of going all in we should call.

Question 4: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO (Hero) ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A , K
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) A , 4 , 4 (4 players)
SB checks, BB bets $1.20, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?
Because the board is very dry and BB range is so wide that putting him on 4x hand would be a big stretch so we can assume that we are often ahead so the question is should we bet or should we call. Reraising in this situation i think would only force worse hands out of the pot because BB would be bluffing most of the time so i think we should call and see the further action maybe we can manage to make BB bluff again.

Good Job! Homework #7 Done!

About Question #3:
In this case, you decided to bet out yourself and two players behind you go all-in. You would have to invest $8.40 in order to participate in a $22 pot, which corresponds to an equity of 27.63%.

Board: Q:h 3:s 2:h
Dead:

Equity Win DrawLoss Hand
Player 1: 38.538% 38.538% 0.000% 61.462% 5h4h
Player 2: 14.540% 14.540% 0.000% 85.460% QQ+
Player 3: 46.921% 46.921% 0.000% 53.079% 22-33

You get the required odds even when you're exclusively up against very strong hands!

About Question #4:
Top pair / top kicker has been and will always be a hand that's tough to play, especially in a multi-way pot. In this case, you've hit a nice flop, but you're up against 3 opponents on a dry board which doesn't allow for any dangerous draws.

A fold on this board is, of course, too weak. You can't really hit much better and there might be worse Ax hands willing to pay you off.

If you think that your opponent(s) is/are often willing to go broke on the flop with worse hands, raising might not be the worst of choices. But one thing is clear: if you raise, you have to go all-in on the flop! Raise/fold with your top pair is absolutely out of question.

Even though this might leave a bitter aftertaste in a 4-way pot, you should play this like a way ahead / way behind spot here - by playing it passive, you will extract the maximum from weaker hands and bluffs while avoiding big losses against stronger hands.

Good luck on tables and with the School. Some more points earned.

okay the last homework:
Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation.
NL2 floating
NL 2 KK as overpair

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members.
Nl2 - AK: TpTk vs aggresive opponent

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$100 NL Hold'em (9 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($100)
UTG+1 ($100)
MP1 ($100)
MP2 ($100)
Hero ($100)
CO ($100)
BU ($100)
SB ($100)
BB ($100) (18/15/3.7/23/732)[VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8heart , 9heart
4 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, 3 folds, BB calls $4.00

Flop: ($8.50) 3heart , 6Heart , 8diamond (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5.50 BB calls $5.50

Turn: ($19.50) Jheart (2 players)
BB checks, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

Bet ~14.60$ for value extraction even though we are against Tight player who limpled he ussually be on a draw or some pocket pair. if we put him on ange like :
MP2 15.98% 15.98% 0.00% 88, 66, 33, A9s-A2s
MP3 84.02% 84.02% 0.00% 9h8h
we are mostly ahead

BONUS Question 4 (optional question): Consider the following situation:

$200 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
MP2 (Hero) ($327.95)
MP3 ($207.45)
CO ($415.55) (TAG)
BU ($373.60) (TAG)
SB ($200.00)
BB ($218.00)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 7heart , 8heart
Hero raises to $7, 1 folds, CO raises to $23, BU calls $23, SB folds, BB folds, Hero calls $16

Flop: ($72) 7club , 8spade , 8diamond (3 players)
Hero checks, CO checks, BU bets $52, Hero calls, CO calls

Turn: ($228) Kdiamond (3 players)
Hero checks, CO checks, BU checks

River: ($228) Qheart (3 players)
Hero bets $110, CO raises to $340.55 (All-in), BU folds, Hero?

What factors and concepts that you have learned so far would you use in evaluating this situation? What would your action be?
The opponent is Tag so we can put him on the range with which he 3bets :
Board:
8d8s7c Kd Qh

Equity Win Tie
MP2 75.00% 75.00% 0.00% 8h7h
MP3 25.00% 25.00% 0.00% QQ+, AKs, AKo
as we see we are mostly ahead there's only two hands that beats us pocket kings and pocket queens.
Another concept is pot size after raise we have to put 143$ to win 591$ so we need only 24% equity and if we assume that player would push only with QQ+ we still have the equity to call.
So the action is to call i don't think that we can even lay the hand as strong as this

Good Job! Homework #8 Done!

About Question #3:
In this case, the right answer is quite obvious. Both AF and WTS speak in favor of a check behind for bluff induce. But your hand is too strong here, so you want to get it all-in on the turn. There are a lot of hands you still have to protect against, too. Playing for bluff induce or pot control would simply be too weak and dangerous.

About Question #4:
About preflop play I'd say that it's still doable while we even are a bit deeper. I expect the hero to play solid postflop play. So Calling is definitely fine here with having 2 opponents in the hand and getting great implied odds. But for more beginners it's deifnitely a very close spot while they ain't gonna be able to laydown weak hands.

As we have the information that CO is a TAG player. Therefore, we expect him to have a strong 3bet range. Unless we have some other information like he has a wide 3bet range. But while we don’t have that, we basically consider his range to be something QQ+, AK or sometimes even tighter.

So now you have to ask yourself what kind of hands would play like this on river? KK may slowplay like this. QQ definitely is as well in his range. AK/AA he wouldn’t play this way since he know himself as well that he isn’t going to get Called by worse hands. So basically it’s up to the nuts most often. You only beat bluff there and I don’t expect the opponent to bluff in this case unless we know the table dynamics better.

Best of luck in exam! Some more points earned.