MrMauve

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck MrMauve,

Hopefully you will enjoy around here. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, we will be around for you. Meanwhile good luck on tables, we will be waiting for your homework.

Seems that you have already done some progress with other variant of poker, that's really good.

Best Regards.

Hello! Here's my first homework assignment.

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker? (Be as vague or specific as you want with this one, but try to think of all the reasons and elaborate on them.)

I hinted at this before but the attraction at the moment is to return to a game I'm fairly familiar with but not great at, and master it at the lowest stakes. I like the game of poker, I find it a fascinating challenge, and I would like to have the feeling of knowing exactly what I'm doing and crushing it.

If that works... long-term, it would be nice to have a fun hobby that pays me some rent.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker? (What are the mistakes you know you are making during your games? Are you playing while you're tired? Are you tilting easily? Want to see the showdown too much? Write down as many as you think are affecting you.)

I'm short on hands played at the moment but I think I'm vulnerable to a problem with impatience. It can be demoralising to get ready for a session and find that you are dealt no playable hands in the first half hour. Another problem is that the sums of money are not meaningful at the moment so the temptation is there to throw it away for fun. I must not try to "make things happen" by bluffing and stealing when I don't have the cards, position, or initiative.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive? (Describe in your own words what playing tight aggressive is and why does it work.)

We can only make money if we have the best hand at showdown or if everyone else folds prior to that. If we play tight, we restrict ourselves to the best cards and therefore have a natural advantage when hands go to showdown. And if we play aggressively by betting and raising, we give ourselves the chance to make other people fold, we give people the opportunity to make the mistake of calling down our superior hands, and we put our opponents under pressure and ensure that they have difficult decisions to make.

Good job! Homework #1 Done!

Impatience is actually a huge leak for a lot of poker players. You have to find yourself a way how you gonna ignore it or make it disappear. Try every time remind yourself! Forcing into your life to be more patient in any activity you do, not only poker. Force! Force! Force! Always remind what you came to do and the patience will just help you earning more salary not the opposite. The more you practice, the more you will get used to it and even at some point realize that you even ignoring it.

Also if you aren't getting dealt good hands. So what? It's just part of a big session, in some sessions you do really good, in some you do really bad, in some you don't get dealt any hands. You just have to adjust to that and ignore it. If you will think of that crap during the session it will just make you loose even more money. Therefore try not to focus on the hands what are dealt but rather that you play your A-Game, that's what the most important and in long run will earn profit for you.

Most of the weakness you wrote can easily be fixed by posting hands (analyzing your session). We will start writing feedback to your play. Usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you lose money, you will remember it more than winning part. By this situation it's gonna be that negative feedback you gonna remember and try to avoid them next time.

Tight style is usually called playing selected hands. Like following the Starting Hand Chart. Aggressive should be also pretty clear that already the word says how you should be playing. But the problem playing aggressively is that you have to watch that you don't play too aggressive. Find good spots, find good targets. About The tight-aggressive strategy you can read in this article: "What is the Big Stack Strategy?"

Hopefully you will enjoy the Course. Some points earned.

Thank you for your advice so far. In good time, I'm hoping that any impatience I feel can be alleviated by judicious multi-tabling, but we're not quite there yet!

Here's my homework for Lesson 2:

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested 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 should be played?)

First of all, I love Hasenbraten's "Crushing NL50" series! My current aim is to crush NL4 so if I can absorb everything in that series I imagine I'll be rather well set-up.

I hope we can agree that the BSS Starting Hands chart is on the tight side, which is fair enough as it's designed to keep beginners out of trouble. I think that the only reason to play any tighter than that would be if you had a very good read that the person starting action was an absolute rock.

So, how and why could I play looser? There are 2 ways we could go about this - raise more often, or limp/call more often. The article sets out the following situations:

- limping more often if more than one person has already limped in
- calling raises more often if they're undersized raises or one or more people have already called
- raising to isolate a limper
- raising to steal the blinds

These all sound like good ideas but I think that the most appropriate one for me to start with is loosening up my range to steal the blinds. (As it happens, the article says "if you want to move away from the rigid scheme of the SHC a little, you should first try this in blindsteal situations in which you are the aggressor" so I'm glad we agree!) The safety net here is that even if someone calls, I will have position on the flop. I'm investing 4BB to win 1.5, so if both players fold more than 4/(4+1.5) = 73% of the time I make money even if I fold to every 3-bet and every flop (...and I won't).

So, from now on, if I have 2 tight opponents on my direct left, I will be looking out for opportunities to steal with more hands. The BSS suggests: any pair; any 2 broadway; any suited ace; suited connectors 54s or above. To this I could usefully add: any ace; any suited king; offsuit connectors; suited two-gappers; perhaps even any 2 cards 9 or above?

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. ( Post your hand in the Hand evaluation forums and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)

The Starting Hands Chart has served me pretty well so far. However, I'd like your opinion on this hand:

NL Beginner (2c/4c): AKo vs UTG raise from shortstack

To crush NL holdem I need to exploit my opponents tendencies. It seems like tight shortstacks should be a good place to start as they have such a small range of possible moves that they should be predictable... but all their possible moves seem very strong. Is a tiny rock crushable?

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.)

That's an eerily pertinent question given the hand I just posted...

Equilab says 46.32%.

       Equity     Win     Tie
SB     46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
BB     53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

For fun, I split that top 5% range into 4 groups. Out of 54 remaining combinations (if we remove one A and one K from the deck), we're in DEEP trouble against AA-KK (6 combos, 18.47% equity), in an unfair race with AKs and 88-QQ (32 total combos, 44.05% equity), dead level with any other AKo (7 combos, 50.00% equity), and in dominating shape against AJs AQs and KQs (9 combos, 70.13% equity). It's sort of interesting that by far the most common situation is that we're a little bit behind with AKo. I thought so, anyway.

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

I hope we can agree that the BSS Starting Hands chart is on the tight side, which is fair enough as it's designed to keep beginners out of trouble. I think that the only reason to play any tighter than that would be if you had a very good read that the person starting action was an absolute rock.

People still keep asking why is the Chart so tight. But the basic reason for it is to teach everyone to learn first preflop and postflop play. And every act behind it rather than play very loosely and where you will have a lot of difficult decisions and most likely will oveprlay and loose money. Chart ain't anyways a must follow but rather you can always adjust to your own play.

- limping more often if more than one person has already limped in

Well, depends really against what opponents, against what stacks and of course what hands. With position and a lot of hands we could easily even consider isolating.

- calling raises more often if they're undersized raises or one or more people have already called

Obviously also depends what kind of hands. I would strongly advice not to play such hands as AT-AQ which are very often dominated or any other broadways. Especially when they are off-suited. With suited ones it's different story.

- raising to isolate a limper

As I advice already.

- raising to steal the blinds

Totally agree with you about the stealing ranges. They can be very easily be balanced with even wider range. Depending on the opponent you can as well put a wider stealing range. Against some tight opponents who give up their blinds either preflop or postflop, why not to adjust? Against some shorties you can even steal with smaller raise, for example 3xBB. But don't overdo the stealing situations. Sometimes you might just put yourself into too many difficult spots if opening with marginal hands.

To crush NL holdem I need to exploit my opponents tendencies. It seems like tight shortstacks should be a good place to start as they have such a small range of possible moves that they should be predictable... but all their possible moves seem very strong. Is a tiny rock crushable?

Rather start against full stacks. Since you will rarely have much fold equity shorties.

About Question #3:

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
UTG+1  53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

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

Question 0: Download and install the Equilab.

This has been done. The Equilab is good.

Question 1: You are holding KsQs. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3d3c? How does the equity change on this flop: Js5d3s? (Tip: you can use the Equilab to help you with this task.)

Pre-flop, it's close to a tie - KsQs has 50.78%.

       Equity     Win     Tie
SB     50.78%  50.40%   0.38% { KsQs }
BB     49.22%  48.84%   0.38% { 3d3c }

Post-flop, we're pretty much a 3:1 dog - KsQs has 26.46%.

Board: J♠5♦3♠
       Equity     Win     Tie
SB     26.46%  26.46%   0.00% { KsQs }
BB     73.54%  73.54%   0.00% { 3d3c }

This is bad news. When we flop a flush draw and overcards, we're rather hoping that our opponent has something like top pair and a kicker that isn't one of our two cards (king and queen):

Board: J♠5♦3♠
       Equity     Win     Tie
SB     54.04%  54.04%   0.00% { KsQs }
BB     45.96%  45.96%   0.00% { JhTh }

Here we would have 6 outs to make a better top pair and 9 more for a flush. 15 outs on the flop gives rise to an equity edge for our KsQs even though all we've really made so far is king high. The 2 key differences between "flush draw and OCs vs set" and "flush draw and OCs v top pair" are that against a set, OCs are useless as we're still behind, and even if we make our flush the set has a powerful redraw to a full house.

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

The pot is $0.91 and we only have to call a minimum raise of $0.22. The pot lays us odds of 91:22 = 4.14:1. We have 9 outs to a flush, which means we need odds of 37:9 or 4.11:1, so this is at least a call on odds and outs alone, even ignoring the fact we have 6 more outs to a strong top pair. Plus we can make MORE money on the river with our implied odds because that's what "implied odds" means, especially with a well-disguised hand like a flush draw. Equilab says I've got 49.09% equity against a random hand so given the money in the pot and our huge fold equity this is an easy shove, right? Right?

Well...

Can we put BU on a hand? If (and it's a big if) he's playing according to the SHC, the only possibility is that he called for set value with a low or medium pocket pair (22-JJ). There are 4 low cards on the board. 22, 33, 55, or 66 makes him a set. 44 makes him a straight and kills our top pair outs. To add insult to injury 77 gives him a better gutshot than us. We're left praying for 88-JJ, and we're behind even them!

Board: 2♣6♦3♦ 5♣
       Equity     Win     Tie
SB     28.94%  26.21%   2.73% { AcJc }
BB     71.06%  68.33%   2.73% { JJ-22 }

We have enough equity to call if he plays all hands 22-JJ the same way. Does his play look like he has a set or an overpair? It's intimidating (even though it's a minimum raise). Might he have checked behind on the flop if he'd made a set? Well... yes, he might. We did not contibet, presumably because we didn't think we could represent anything on such a low board. It wouldn't be unusual for him to see if the turn improved things for one of his two opponents, as he's on the button. My bet looks like "picked up a flush draw" much more than "he's paired that 5 he raised with pre-flop", so he's better off raising to protect. Mind you... he should probably have raised a bit more to protect against a flush draw. Would he min-raise with an overpair? I don't know

Against a set we have 7 clean outs. I mentioned implied odds earlier - terrible things happen to our implied odds if we believe that he has a set and imagine that the river could be the 3 or 6 of clubs.

This is a tough question! I think I fold. To call, I'd need good information that his range for calling a pre-flop raise is bigger than 22-JJ, or that he has a habit of raising bets at random for fun. Even if he's a habitual bluffer, I should think twice about playing back at him without a better hand than ace high. If he's in the habit of cold-calling raises with speculative hands, I will get better opportunities to take his money later on.

But that's after thinking about it for a while - at the table I bet I snap call...

Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. (Post your hand in the hand evaluation forum and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)

I don't think I have a general question as I have too few hands played to work out what I'm bad at. I don't see many flops and each one is an adventure. Here's a specific question about a flop that I catch just enough of to get me into trouble:

NL Beginner (2c/4c): TT on J97r flop vs 2 opps

In real life, I contibet 33c, the aggro CO raised 91c, and I folded.

I think I may be vulnerable to passivity after any resistance postflop - that is, I'll bet once, I'll get raised, and then BANG I'm either folding or check-calling unless I have a seriously good hand. This is either "pot control" or terrible terrible weak-tightness. Or somewhere in between. I will let you know how I get on.

Good job! Homework #3 Done!

About Question #1:
Preflop Equity:

Equity Win Tie
UTG 50.78% 50.40% 0.38% { KsQs }
UTG+1 49.22% 48.84% 0.38% { 3d3c }

Postflop Equity:

Board: J♠5♦3♠
Equity Win Tie
UTG 26.46% 26.46% 0.00% { KsQs }
UTG+1 73.54% 73.54% 0.00% { 3d3c }

About Question #2:
There are several occasions on turn:
a) If we take just odds for the FD and we take into account that all our odds are clean. 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 so that means 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.

You are doing great progress, keep going!

It is time for Homework #4.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation in which you have the initiative postflop. (Post your hand in the Hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)

NL Beginner (2c/4c): KK on flushy board

I have initiative but I'm out of position and my opponents passivity makes me wary.

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.)

Here it is: https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=921153#post921153

I think we end up giving him the same advice but yours is much shorter and to the point What do you think of the blocking bet idea?

Question 3: You are on the flop with KsQd. The board cards are Js, 9c, 8h, and your opponent holds 7c7h. What is your equity in this spot?

Right, you already know I can use Equilab, so I'm going to guess.

I have 10 clean outs. 3 Kings and 3 Queens make me a pair, and 4 tens which are my FAVOURITE outs make my opponent a worse straight than me. My opponent has 2 outs to overtake me if I make top pair on the turn, which is pitiful and barely hardly discounts my top pair outs at all. So I guess my equity is pretty much equal to my chance of making one of my 10 outs, which can be approximated as (4 x outs) % from flop to river. So: 40%.

Board: J♠9♣8♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
SB     41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KsQd }
BB     58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 7h7c }

BOOM I WIN

So I have a question not strictly within the scope of the course...

I've been mostly full ring so far but I tried some 6-max today as I'm playing on iPoker and, thinking long-term, there seems to be a lot more traffic at 6-max, especially above the micro-limits, so it's a game worth learning.

I was expecting 3-bet -> 4-bet -> 5-bet wars pre-flop and crazy big pot showdowns with queen high vs jack high, and I couldn't have been more wrong - it has been RELENTLESSLY smallball. Very few hands see a flop, virtually none get to showdown, and that's with very little 3-betting pre-flop - a single PFR seems to be enough to take down the majority of pots. At micro-limit full ring it has been sufficient to just sit back and wait for the money to come to me because there are people willing to go to showdown with inferior hands, but 6-max seems to be a completely different game.

Is this a 6-max thing? Is this an iPoker thing? Is this a low-limit thing? Is it because it's Saturday? And, since it seems to be real, is the magic bullet to 3-bet light and take everything down pre-flop?

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.

If you have interests you could try calculating the equity with a formula which you can use even on tables(either playing online or live poker):
(Amount of outs x 4) – (Amount of outs – 8) = Your Equity

About Question #3:

Board: J♠9♣8♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KsQd }
UTG+1  58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 7h7c }

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

I've been mostly full ring so far but I tried some 6-max today as I'm playing on iPoker and, thinking long-term, there seems to be a lot more traffic at 6-max, especially above the micro-limits, so it's a game worth learning.

Yep, on every poker room there is a lot more traffic in 6max. Although of course it depends really on the player and what you prefer more. Some like to play FR it's pretty easy to learn while in SH you will face a lot difficult spots and more opponent based game.

Is this a 6-max thing?

Well, on smaller stakes there ain't gonna be many bluffs anyways as 3bet/4bet or whatsoever. But rather we plan to play mostly value hands since the opponents are just too loose.

Is this an iPoker thing? Is this a low-limit thing? Is it because it's Saturday? And, since it seems to be real, is the magic bullet to 3-bet light and take everything down pre-flop?

Most likely saturday cause then a lot of drunk players come online.

The lessons have gone!

Can you access http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy//1997/1/ (Lesson 5) as linked from the overview http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/bss/1992/1/ ? I get "A internal error occured. Please try again."

Originally posted by MrMauve
The lessons have gone!

Can you access http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy//1997/1/ (Lesson 5) as linked from the overview http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/bss/1992/1/ ? I get "A internal error occured. Please try again."

Yeah, I don't know either what's wrong. Just heard that they are trying to fix it.

Seems OK now.

Happy New Year! I'm still here, playing $10NL at Titan.

It might be a little while before I complete the next homework as I don't get through a great many hands and I might not come across an interesting hand where stats were significant enough to make a difference in my play any time soon (I won't test everyone's patience by submitting hands where I folded pre-flop because a player with the stats of a rock raised in early position). I have to worry about statistical significance in my day job and this carries over to poker!

Also: those 2 questions are hard.

No worries, I hope you enjoy your new year run and still eager to learn more for poker.

Right, I think I have something at last!

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have based your decisions on the stats of your opponents.

Well, I'm not sure about this one: I think that the player is likely tight enough that he would fear the Q on the flop and certainly the A on the turn, but I do wonder if I should give his flop raise more credit.

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members.

This guy gets hit by a truck and some work with Equilab makes me think isn't any way he could reasonably have seen it coming unless he knew his opponent only ever EVER bets with the nuts.

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 :diamond:, 7
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20) 3 :diamond:, 3 :heart:, 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?

The SB has TAGgish stats. The BB is looser and more passive. The SB bets. The BB just calls.

I need to be worried that the SB has me beaten with a bigger flush draw or even a full house, but my instinct is to rule it out. He'd probably have 3-bet TT or JJ pre-flop. He saw no strength from me on the flop so he doesn't need a huge hand to bet with - he may reasonably have thought I whiffed. He's made a largish bet for someone with no fear of a flush draw. He may be honestly betting with a jack, semibluffing an ace of diamonds, or both the above; he may be trying it on with 88 or 99, possibly have been slowplaying trip threes, or just having a stab at a scary board that I might have missed with AQ or something. So I've convinced myself that a fold is out of the question.

The BB on the other hand may very well have a high diamond, and the risk that one of the two of them does means that I need to raise here. Say a raise to $3.50? I think that protects my small flush and gives me the option of getting away from the hand if there's a big reraise, or a call and another diamond on the river (which would be a sickener).

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...

What action would you take, and why?

This guy raises PF a lot, and has a high AF too. He probably thinks I have a wide-ish PFR range from the cut-off, and so will 3-bet with a lot of cards. I presume then that our call is for value, not just set mining (stacks aren't deep enough for this).

His range doesn't hit that flop! I just fed "10%" into Equilab and it said the following:

Board: 6♥9♠T♣
       Equity     Win     Tie
CO     61.16%  60.54%   0.62% { JJ }
BU     38.84%  38.21%   0.62% { 77+, A9s+, KTs+, QTs+, AJo+, KQo }

126 combinations in that range. We're behind 99, TT, QQ, KK, AA, which is just 24 hands. We stand to make a ton of money from AT, KT, QT.

If he were super-tight, I would need to be much more worried that I were behind a bigger overpair. (We're about level with Equilab "5%" and 60:40ish against "4%".)

So I guess I have two options - donk or checkraise. I went into this thinking that a donk bet was the best way to get money with a minimum of tough decisions but I now think that's the cowardly option - I think he's so likely to C-bet, given his stats, that we should let him give us money and keep the action open by raising big, since if I donk and he calls there are a lot of turn cards which could make life very difficult - a queen or king is a problem, an ace is a nightmare.

--

Final thought: I've lost a few big showdowns recently so I'm trying at the table to make the effort not to pay people off. Nevertheless I've gone for aggressive play in both the questions. I hope I haven't overdone it, and I wonder if I'd have that much courage at the tables, without time to think it over properly!

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 Course.