cheekopeh

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

a) For the money

Even though I'm at the micros, the dream of winning a substantial amount of money at higher stakes has constantly crossed my mind. I don't think I will ever complain if I have more money.

b) I like the strategy part of it

In the short term, luck is king. In the long term, skill is king. I read in a poker article talking about the skill element of poker. In a whole year of billions or probably trillions of hands, it is discovered that the best hand actually folded and "lost" the pot to a worse hand more than 50% of the total hands researched. Not so sure about the figures and %, but it goes to show that there's strategy involved in poker, and with skill and reads, there will definitely be a Winner and Loser.

c) I like the Variance

Okay, maybe not. Even though I have not played lots of hands (maybe 100k+), and I may not fully understand Variance, but I have an idea of how terrible the feeling is when you get sucked out on by a 2 outer.

However, as a Sportsman, I'd always like the holistic education. I believe Variance helps a poker player become stronger mentally and emotionally. The ability to accept Variance as it is, is also an ability, a skill. The faster a poker player completely accepts Variance, the faster a better player he will become.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?

a) Out-level

I like to think I'm cool and am a genius when playing. Then I proceed on to make crazy raises, floating and trying to take it down on the Turn because Villain is full of it. I end up spewing a stack. Then goes another stack, and then another stack.

b) Instant results

I want instant results. I read books, articles and watch videos and expect myself to become good without actually understanding its content and applying the principles and concepts. I fall into the trap of thinking each session is an end to itself and end up hurting when I lose 2-3 BI in a session.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive?

Tight means you play a narrow range of hands which will hit well postflop and become a strong hand. Playing tight will lead to easier decisions postflop because if we hit, we will have a really good draw or a strong made hand and can proceed on.

Playing aggressive means betting and raising. It means putting pressure on your opponents and forcing them to be uncomfortable and making decisions out of their comfort zones. This will lead them to make mistakes and we will be able to profit from them.

Thus, playing tight aggressive means playing a narrow range of hands which will turn into strong draws or strong made hands postflop and betting/raising them to extract maximum value.

Phew, I'm one long-winded fella. Done! ♦

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck. Good job! Homework #1 Done!

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.

What about tilt? Do you adjust something against it? For example:
Easiest way 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 results. Some may put it higher, some lower. Also after the stop you can spend some time with evaluation part to become better.

Being result oriented is very bad for poker cause clearly you will face a lot of bad runs. Whereby you should rather concentrate how to get rid of it, it will help you only get strong as soon you understand it so try to work on it. Setting stop-loss might help you also help out and whenever feeling that you start to be too much result oriented close the session.

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 being with us here and will enjoy the course. In any case you have questions about anything then feel free to ask it, I will try to respond as soon I read it.

Originally posted by veriz
Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck. Good job! Homework #1 Done!

What about tilt? Do you adjust something against it? For example:
Easiest way 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 results. Some may put it higher, some lower. Also after the stop you can spend some time with evaluation part to become better.

Hi Veriz,

Firstly, you're no longer coaching in PS and it's a huge pity. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors wherever or whatever it might be. Good luck! I'll still answer the question you post to me though.

I'm fairly alright when I get all in PF or on the Flop and lose to a suckout or a close race. But I get super pissed when Opponent calls me w bad odds or just suckered me on the River. So I'll take note of this kind of situations that make me tilt.

a) My stop-loss will be 2BI because I only play max 500 hands a session per day. For weekends, I try to play 1k hands so stop-loss will be 3BI.

b) My aim is to review my biggest wins and losses after my session and to post those hands on HE boards.

c) I'll focus on topics which I studied for my particular session. E.g Preflop 3-betting. And I'll also post these hands on HE boards to see if I'm playing them right.

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 being with us here and will enjoy the course. In any case you have questions about anything then feel free to ask it, I will try to respond as soon I read it.

I've read the article and after playing NL2, I recognize it's about waiting for the right and good spots so we can maximize our EV. Sometimes, it's even +EV to give up on marginal spots where we're not sure of our hands.

Thank you Veriz

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?

a) The number of hands I play may differ from the SHC based on my table and opponents.

I will play my hands accordingly to the dynamics of my table. If I have reads or have seen showdowns of my opponents, I'll choose my starting hands that will play well against theirs. If they are generally loose and likes to play suited hands of all kinds, offsuit connectors and any Ax, I will basically play high card/broadway hands that have decent showdown value and can flop medium strength hands. These hands, I can even 3 barrel for value against them.

Against very nitty opponents, I will play hands that can flop big like PPs for set value, suited connectors that can flop 2p, Trips, Straights, Flushes. Because nitty opponents play a very tight range like Big PPs and big broadways, I can play the hands I listed above.

So, these are the hands I can play differently from the SHC as it is necessary to adapt to our table and our opponents accordingly.

b) Different bet-sizings and lines to make

I might make a bigger raise against a Calling Station as he will call me anyway if he wants to see the flop. This might be 5bb or 6bb open raise as compared to the 4bb that the SHC recommends.

I might 3-bet bluff an opponent who has been open-raising very wide and folding to a lot of 3-bets. And I might 3-bet smallish as compared to the 3x recommended.

Sometimes, we may want to call a 3-bet with AA/KK and not 4-bet shove as opponent may be 3-betting light and we want to give him a chance to bluff or flop a weaker made hand.

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.

NL5 Zoom 33s Calling 3-bet

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo.

I'll don't know how to calculate as in really calculate in technicalities or if there are any formulas. But I'll GUESS. Lol.

a) AKo vs 88-QQ is ermm about 47%~
b) AKo vs KK+ is GG. Erm 8%??
c) AKo vs KQs is 70% I think
d) AKo vs AJs+ is 65%??
e) AKo vs AKo is ofc 50% I hope I am right?!!

Soooo, all in all I would say:
AKo vs Top 5% range would be 40%?!

Okay, Equilab time!

a) AKo vs 88-QQ is 43.82% (-3.18%)
b) AKo vs KK-AA is 18.48% (-10.48%)
c) AKo vs KQs is 70.43% (-0.43%)
d) AKo vs AJs is 64.36% (-0.64%)
e) AKo vs AKo is 50% (0%)

AKo vs Top 5% Range is 46.32% (-6.32%)

I swear I didn't cheat c) and d). Lol.

So AKo vs KK+ was really off. Now I know even dominated hands still has around 28% equity and hands that has ONE overcard vs PP has about 35% equity. Shouldn't be so surprised the next time AKo, AKs beats my KKs on the River.

Homework 2 Done!

Hello,

My name is Bogdan and I am the coach that will be taking over this section (from Veriz).

Before the end of the week I will be able to come in this thread and respond to you. Please stay tuned

Best regards.

Hi Bogdan,

I'm looking forward to your guidance and coachings! Thanks!

Originally posted by cheekopeh

I'm fairly alright when I get all in PF or on the Flop and lose to a suckout or a close race. But I get super pissed when Opponent calls me w bad odds or just suckered me on the River. So I'll take note of this kind of situations that make me tilt.

a) My stop-loss will be 2BI because I only play max 500 hands a session per day. For weekends, I try to play 1k hands so stop-loss will be 3BI.

b) My aim is to review my biggest wins and losses after my session and to post those hands on HE boards.

c) I'll focus on topics which I studied for my particular session. E.g Preflop 3-betting. And I'll also post these hands on HE boards to see if I'm playing them right.

Your stop loss sounds good. What's your plan after you reach the stop loss? Do you stop playing for the day, few days, week? Do you go to review the session, try to cool off and start a new one?

I've read the article and after playing NL2, I recognize it's about waiting for the right and good spots so we can maximize our EV. Sometimes, it's even +EV to give up on marginal spots where we're not sure of our hands.

Thank you Veriz

At NL2 you want to build a solid foundation. You want to learn to valuebet properly and let go of hands that may seem strong (absolute value) but they are actually weak we take into account all the information we have (relative value).

For example:

Playing verus a 6/5 opponent we hold AA and he raises our cbet on a Th9s8c board.

While we hold an AA and the absolute value is great the relative value of the hand is really weak (because now we take into account the board texture and villaiN).

Originally posted by cheekopeh
Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?

a) The number of hands I play may differ from the SHC based on my table and opponents.

I will play my hands accordingly to the dynamics of my table. If I have reads or have seen showdowns of my opponents, I'll choose my starting hands that will play well against theirs. If they are generally loose and likes to play suited hands of all kinds, offsuit connectors and any Ax, I will basically play high card/broadway hands that have decent showdown value and can flop medium strength hands. These hands, I can even 3 barrel for value against them.

Against very nitty opponents, I will play hands that can flop big like PPs for set value, suited connectors that can flop 2p, Trips, Straights, Flushes. Because nitty opponents play a very tight range like Big PPs and big broadways, I can play the hands I listed above.

So, these are the hands I can play differently from the SHC as it is necessary to adapt to our table and our opponents accordingly.

Well said.

Poker is a game of limited information. When we have no information we can play a "standard" game. As soon as we have any information we can start making adjustments.

b) Different bet-sizings and lines to make

I might make a bigger raise against a Calling Station as he will call me anyway if he wants to see the flop. This might be 5bb or 6bb open raise as compared to the 4bb that the SHC recommends.

I might 3-bet bluff an opponent who has been open-raising very wide and folding to a lot of 3-bets. And I might 3-bet smallish as compared to the 3x recommended.

Sometimes, we may want to call a 3-bet with AA/KK and not 4-bet shove as opponent may be 3-betting light and we want to give him a chance to bluff or flop a weaker made hand.

These are some good adjustments to make and they are all based on information you are able to gather from your opponents.

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.

NL5 Zoom 33s Calling 3-bet

This hand has already been evaluated. If you have any other questions about the hand please post them there (or here).

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo.

I'll don't know how to calculate as in really calculate in technicalities or if there are any formulas. But I'll GUESS. Lol.

a) AKo vs 88-QQ is ermm about 47%~
b) AKo vs KK+ is GG. Erm 8%??
c) AKo vs KQs is 70% I think
d) AKo vs AJs+ is 65%??
e) AKo vs AKo is ofc 50% I hope I am right?!!

Soooo, all in all I would say:
AKo vs Top 5% range would be 40%?!

Okay, Equilab time!

a) AKo vs 88-QQ is 43.82% (-3.18%)
b) AKo vs KK-AA is 18.48% (-10.48%)
c) AKo vs KQs is 70.43% (-0.43%)
d) AKo vs AJs is 64.36% (-0.64%)
e) AKo vs AKo is 50% (0%)

AKo vs Top 5% Range is 46.32% (-6.32%)

I swear I didn't cheat c) and d). Lol.

So AKo vs KK+ was really off. Now I know even dominated hands still has around 28% equity and hands that has ONE overcard vs PP has about 35% equity. Shouldn't be so surprised the next time AKo, AKs beats my KKs on the River.

Homework 2 Done!

Well done,

I am happy you gave it a shot without using Equilab first. That was a good test to actually see what your perception of equities actually is.

As a side note I'd like to invite you to continue posting hands on the evaluation boards and I'd like to invite you to join us for the weekly Sunday No-Limit Special [Beginner] Coaching (more info: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/coaching/176692/ )

Best of luck

Originally posted by BogdanPS
Your stop loss sounds good. What's your plan after you reach the stop loss? Do you stop playing for the day, few days, week? Do you go to review the session, try to cool off and start a new one?

Hi Coach, my plan is to definitely just get away from the tables and take my mind off poker for the night. The next day, I will review the session and post those hands on the forums to see if I played them good or bad. It will be comforting to know I play them well, that will give me motivation to grind again. If it's because I play them bad, then now I know what mistakes I made and have to learn not to make them again in the future.

At NL2 you want to build a solid foundation. You want to learn to valuebet properly and let go of hands that may seem strong (absolute value) but they are actually weak we take into account all the information we have (relative value).

For example:

Playing verus a 6/5 opponent we hold AA and he raises our cbet on a Th9s8c board.

While we hold an AA and the absolute value is great the relative value of the hand is really weak (because now we take into account the board texture and villaiN).

Thanks for your advice Coach. I have to go through the pain of aimless "value-betting" to find out that there must be always a reason for betting. Betting for value or betting to bluff. And if we bet for value, we must make sure that there will be worse hands that will call us and not isolate ourselves against stronger hands.

Originally posted by BogdanPS

Well done,

I am happy you gave it a shot without using Equilab first. That was a good test to actually see what your perception of equities actually is.

As a side note I'd like to invite you to continue posting hands on the evaluation boards and I'd like to invite you to join us for the weekly Sunday No-Limit Special [Beginner] Coaching (more info: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/coaching/176692/ )

Best of luck

I would love to join the coaching on Sunday. But it's a little tough though as I stay in Singapore which is GMT+8 and I think that's 2am-330am for the coaching.

Nevertheless, will continue to post interesting hands on HE boards and more importantly, keep moving through this course!

Question 0: Download and install the Equilab.

Downloaded!

Question 1: You are holding K :spade:Q :spade:. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3 :diamond:3 :club:? How does the equity change on this flop: J :spade:5 :diamond:3 :spade:? (Tip: you can use the Equilab to help you with this task.)

I will try again w/o Equilab first.
Preflop K :spade:Q v 3 :diamond:3 is 48%
On J :spade:5 :diamond:3 Flop, K :spade:Q is 28% dog to a set of 33s. I hope I'm not far off.

Actual results according to Equilab is 50.78% Preflop and 26.46% on the Flop. Not bad!

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!)

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 A :club:J
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, BU calls $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06.

Flop: ($0.25) 2 :club:6 :diamond:3 (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...?

Firstly, I am drawing to the Nut Flush.

Pot Odds
There is $0,25+$0.22+$0.44 = $0.91 in the pot and I need to call another $0.22. My pot odds are then $0.91/$0.22 which is roughly 4:1.

Outs
I have 9 outs for my flush. To be pessimistic, I discount 2 outs which are the 6 & 3 just because my opp might have a set. There are 46 cards left in the deck. 39 are unhelpful, while 7 are helpful. Thus my odds of hitting my outs are 39:7 which is approximately 5.5:1~

Implied Odds
It is difficult to put Villain on a range, but we can assume it's pretty wide since he's on the BU. Even though it might seem unlikely that he has a set, which he would bet on the Flop IP to protect from draws, we will still include them in his range because we want to be safe. He might have 55s anyway.

Additionally, he can have a 4x which gives him a straight, diamond draw or worse club draw. We can also find 2pairs and Ax hands which gives him a pair. Thus we can conclude, if we hit our 7 clean outs we have a good chance of getting value from our villain.

Conclusion
All in all, I think it's a really close decision to call or to fold. However, a major factor which tilts my decision towards a fold is that we are Out of Position. If a clean club comes on the River and we donk, it is pretty obvious to the Villain we have a Flush. Whether he will make a crying call is another issue, but he might just fold any hands weaker than a Set/Straight.

Another factor is Hero's ability to lay down his hand. What if a non club/diamond Jack or Ace comes on the River and we check and Villain bets small again? Even thought it is likely we're beat, we might spew off another few bbs just because we hit something and we have "the odds" to call.

So all in all, I will still favor a fold. There are much better spots to be in to win money. I THINK. Lol

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.)

NL5 Speed A3s Monsterdraw
NL5 Speed QQ
NL5 Speed AK 2pair
NL5 Speed QQ Bluffcatch
NL5 Speed QQ 3barrel?

Homework 3 Done!

Hi Coach Bogdan,

I have a specific question I wanna ask you and hope you can shed some light on the topic for me. I'm like many others who face a problem on the topic of 3-betting.

At first, I had no idea why I 3-bet and for what. I basically just 3-bet when I feel that my hand is nice etc.

I have read Verneer's "Building A Bankroll" and also Pleno's Zoom NL10 3-betting video. In both their teachings, they basically advocate

1) 3-betting for Value
- When we 3-bet against loose Open Raisers who have a low Fold to 3-bet. So even hands like KQ can be a 3-bet for value against them as they will call w dominated hands.
- Want isolate myself w fish while not giving other players behind incentive to squeeze. We can make our 3-bet a little smaller.

It is okay to 3-bet for value against opponents who call a lot of 3-bets w a wide range of hands that are often dominated by us, and still fold to their 4-bet if their 4-bet range is super narrow which basically contains QQ+

2) 3-betting bluff
- When Open Raisers have a high Fold to 3-bet and we 3-bet to take down the dead money and create an aggressive image.

But in this hand which I posted on the HE below, you wrote about this.

NL5 Zoom AKs Sqz vs BTN & Sb

You provided another perspective of 3-betting for me and I agree w you to an extent as well. Since then, I have tried to play smaller pots and call more w hands that have good equity against opponents' Opening Range. But I also realize I am sacrificing initiative, and at the same time less inclined to call their Open Raises OOP (in the blinds).

I basically polarize my 3-bet range to this.
3-bet for Value: QQ+, sometimes AK+ depending on stacks and opponents where I'm fine getting stacks in the middle. Sometimes only KK+ if opponent is really tight.
3-bet for Bluff: Ax suited hands, broadway hands KT/KJ, QT/QJ, and mid suited connectors. Sometimes even random junk when BvB.

I actually find that this is working really well for me, other than it's harder to hand read w/o initiative. I compensate for value because for some reason, opponents tend to bluff a lot when I under-rep my hand. I do less betting but more calling.

Until today, when I posted another hand, Coach Kyumpa suggested that I should 3-bet my AKo on the blind.

NL5 Speed AK 2pair

So now, I'm really confused about 3-betting and what I should do. I know in Poker, it always depends. I hope you can shed some more light for me regarding this topic. Thanks Coach!

P.S sorry if it's a little long-winded and not very structured. Typing this at 2:46am. Please let me know if you need any clarification on my part.

Thanks!

Originally posted by cheekopeh

Hi Coach, my plan is to definitely just get away from the tables and take my mind off poker for the night. The next day, I will review the session and post those hands on the forums to see if I played them good or bad. It will be comforting to know I play them well, that will give me motivation to grind again. If it's because I play them bad, then now I know what mistakes I made and have to learn not to make them again in the future.

This sounds good assuming you are playing during the night and can just go to bed and watch TV.

But what happens if let's say you play on a Saturday morning and then you hit the stop loss? Do you stop playing for the entire day? I would say that with your conservative stop loss you should be able to start playing again after 30-60 minutes (but you know yourself best).

Thanks for your advice Coach. I have to go through the pain of aimless "value-betting" to find out that there must be always a reason for betting. Betting for value or betting to bluff. And if we bet for value, we must make sure that there will be worse hands that will call us and not isolate ourselves against stronger hands.

Of course, and this all comes down to hand reading

When we stop hand reading we will see right away how the money is randomly flying left and right.

Originally posted by cheekopeh
Question 0: Download and install the Equilab.

Downloaded!

Question 1: You are holding K :spade:Q :spade:. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3 :diamond:3 :club:? How does the equity change on this flop: J :spade:5 :diamond:3 :spade:? (Tip: you can use the Equilab to help you with this task.)

I will try again w/o Equilab first.
Preflop K :spade:Q v 3 :diamond:3 is 48%
On J :spade:5 :diamond:3 Flop, K :spade:Q is 28% dog to a set of 33s. I hope I'm not far off.

Actual results according to Equilab is 50.78% Preflop and 26.46% on the Flop. Not bad!

Well done. You were very close which is great because during actual play you want to be able to estimate equities.

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!)

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 A :club:J
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, BU calls $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06.

Flop: ($0.25) 2 :club:6 :diamond:3 (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...?

Firstly, I am drawing to the Nut Flush.

Pot Odds
There is $0,25+$0.22+$0.44 = $0.91 in the pot and I need to call another $0.22. My pot odds are then $0.91/$0.22 which is roughly 4:1.

Outs
I have 9 outs for my flush. To be pessimistic, I discount 2 outs which are the 6 & 3 just because my opp might have a set. There are 46 cards left in the deck. 39 are unhelpful, while 7 are helpful. Thus my odds of hitting my outs are 39:7 which is approximately 5.5:1~

Implied Odds
It is difficult to put Villain on a range, but we can assume it's pretty wide since he's on the BU. Even though it might seem unlikely that he has a set, which he would bet on the Flop IP to protect from draws, we will still include them in his range because we want to be safe. He might have 55s anyway.

Additionally, he can have a 4x which gives him a straight, diamond draw or worse club draw. We can also find 2pairs and Ax hands which gives him a pair. Thus we can conclude, if we hit our 7 clean outs we have a good chance of getting value from our villain.

Conclusion
All in all, I think it's a really close decision to call or to fold. However, a major factor which tilts my decision towards a fold is that we are Out of Position. If a clean club comes on the River and we donk, it is pretty obvious to the Villain we have a Flush. Whether he will make a crying call is another issue, but he might just fold any hands weaker than a Set/Straight.

Another factor is Hero's ability to lay down his hand. What if a non club/diamond Jack or Ace comes on the River and we check and Villain bets small again? Even thought it is likely we're beat, we might spew off another few bbs just because we hit something and we have "the odds" to call.

So all in all, I will still favor a fold. There are much better spots to be in to win money. I THINK. Lol

Nicely done. It looks like you spent a great deal of time on this hand and the analysis shows it.

However, I would say that considering the fact that we have the backdoor nut flush and the way the hand got played so far we actually have quite a bit of implied odds (usually backdoor flush draws don't scare opponents as much).

I personally think that a call is not terrible given the scenario

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.)

NL5 Speed A3s Monsterdraw
NL5 Speed QQ
NL5 Speed AK 2pair
NL5 Speed QQ Bluffcatch
NL5 Speed QQ 3barrel?

Homework 4 Done!

Great work with the homework.

All of your hands should have an answer as well.

Good luck with the rest of the course and at the tables.

Originally posted by cheekopeh
Hi Coach Bogdan,

I have a specific question I wanna ask you and hope you can shed some light on the topic for me. I'm like many others who face a problem on the topic of 3-betting.

At first, I had no idea why I 3-bet and for what. I basically just 3-bet when I feel that my hand is nice etc.

I have read Verneer's "Building A Bankroll" and also Pleno's Zoom NL10 3-betting video. In both their teachings, they basically advocate

1) 3-betting for Value
- When we 3-bet against loose Open Raisers who have a low Fold to 3-bet. So even hands like KQ can be a 3-bet for value against them as they will call w dominated hands.
- Want isolate myself w fish while not giving other players behind incentive to squeeze. We can make our 3-bet a little smaller.

It is okay to 3-bet for value against opponents who call a lot of 3-bets w a wide range of hands that are often dominated by us, and still fold to their 4-bet if their 4-bet range is super narrow which basically contains QQ+

If we know that they rarely 4-bet and mostly call then we want to be 3-betting a wider range and then folding a good chunk of it to a 4-bet. After all we 3-bet versus their calling range.

2) 3-betting bluff
- When Open Raisers have a high Fold to 3-bet and we 3-bet to take down the dead money and create an aggressive image.

But in this hand which I posted on the HE below, you wrote about this.

NL5 Zoom AKs Sqz vs BTN & Sb

You provided another perspective of 3-betting for me and I agree w you to an extent as well. Since then, I have tried to play smaller pots and call more w hands that have good equity against opponents' Opening Range. But I also realize I am sacrificing initiative, and at the same time less inclined to call their Open Raises OOP (in the blinds).

I basically polarize my 3-bet range to this.
3-bet for Value: QQ+, sometimes AK+ depending on stacks and opponents where I'm fine getting stacks in the middle. Sometimes only KK+ if opponent is really tight.
3-bet for Bluff: Ax suited hands, broadway hands KT/KJ, QT/QJ, and mid suited connectors. Sometimes even random junk when BvB.

I actually find that this is working really well for me, other than it's harder to hand read w/o initiative. I compensate for value because for some reason, opponents tend to bluff a lot when I under-rep my hand. I do less betting but more calling.

Until today, when I posted another hand, Coach Kyumpa suggested that I should 3-bet my AKo on the blind.

NL5 Speed AK 2pair

So now, I'm really confused about 3-betting and what I should do. I know in Poker, it always depends. I hope you can shed some more light for me regarding this topic. Thanks Coach!

P.S sorry if it's a little long-winded and not very structured. Typing this at 2:46am. Please let me know if you need any clarification on my part.

Thanks!

Before I forget it looks like I missed your question in the hand you linked. For future reference, when you post a reply that you'd like us to reply back to hit the "advise evaluator to take another look at the hand". This will turn the hand from "Evaluated by X" into a "!" and draw our attention right away. Due to the high number of hands posted daily your replies will get buried pretty fast if you don't use the above approach.

Now back to your question.

Just to clarify I did not advise (hopefully didn't imply) that you shouldn't 3-bet there. I was answering your question as to how to choose between a 3-bet and a call.

It was this part I was answering: "My question is, how do I decide if calling or 3-betting in this hand is the best line to take? In my case, I would just flat if open-raiser was UTG. Are there any other factors to take into account?"

In that particular spot, given the money in the pot and the fact that you think they can call wide (and I agree) it's a good 3-bet squeeze. However I also feel that in those positions we also have to shove over a 4-bet more often than fold and that's the part I was asking you about.

Now to clarify this I think your line is great (and I would squeeze too) but your raise size is a bit big. We are in a spot where we will have bluffs too and we also want to allow opponents to make mistakes and call wider. The larger we raise the tighter their ranges will become.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

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.)

NL5 Speed 22s Isolation

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.)

NL10 ZOOM 6max Tough spot

Question 3: You are on the flop with K :spade:Q :diamond:. The board cards are J :spade:, 9 :club:, 8 :heart:, and your opponent holds 7 :club:7 :heart:. What is your equity in this spot?

Once again, trying w/o Equilab first. A Ten here gives us the better straight, so essentially we have 6 outs against our opp's 77s. I think our equity here isn't too bad, probably 38%?

Upon checking Equilab, it is actually 41.41%.

I guess watching all those poker videos w the equities on all their hands helped!

Homework 4 done!

Originally posted by BogdanPS

Spoiler

Originally posted by cheekopehHi Coach Bogdan,I have a specific question I wanna ask you and hope you can shed some light on the topic for me. I'm like many others who face a problem on the topic of 3-betting. At first, I had no idea why I 3-bet and for what. I basically just 3-bet when I feel that my hand is nice etc.I have read Verneer's "Building A Bankroll" and also Pleno's Zoom NL10 3-betting video. In both their teachings, they basically advocate1) 3-betting for Value- When we 3-bet against loose Open Raisers who have a low Fold to 3-bet. So even hands like KQ can be a 3-bet for value against them as they will call w dominated hands. - Want isolate myself w fish while not giving other players behind incentive to squeeze. We can make our 3-bet a little smaller.It is okay to 3-bet for value against opponents who call a lot of 3-bets w a wide range of hands that are often dominated by us, and still fold to their 4-bet if their 4-bet range is super narrow which basically contains QQ+

If we know that they rarely 4-bet and mostly call then we want to be 3-betting a wider range and then folding a good chunk of it to a 4-bet. After all we 3-bet versus their calling range.

2) 3-betting bluff- When Open Raisers have a high Fold to 3-bet and we 3-bet to take down the dead money and create an aggressive image.But in this hand which I posted on the HE below, you wrote about this.NL5 Zoom AKs Sqz vs BTN & SbYou provided another perspective of 3-betting for me and I agree w you to an extent as well. Since then, I have tried to play smaller pots and call more w hands that have good equity against opponents' Opening Range. But I also realize I am sacrificing initiative, and at the same time less inclined to call their Open Raises OOP (in the blinds).I basically polarize my 3-bet range to this. 3-bet for Value: QQ+, sometimes AK+ depending on stacks and opponents where I'm fine getting stacks in the middle. Sometimes only KK+ if opponent is really tight.3-bet for Bluff: Ax suited hands, broadway hands KT/KJ, QT/QJ, and mid suited connectors. Sometimes even random junk when BvB.I actually find that this is working really well for me, other than it's harder to hand read w/o initiative. I compensate for value because for some reason, opponents tend to bluff a lot when I under-rep my hand. I do less betting but more calling.Until today, when I posted another hand, Coach Kyumpa suggested that I should 3-bet my AKo on the blind. NL5 Speed AK 2pairSo now, I'm really confused about 3-betting and what I should do. I know in Poker, it always depends. I hope you can shed some more light for me regarding this topic. Thanks Coach!P.S sorry if it's a little long-winded and not very structured. Typing this at 2:46am. Please let me know if you need any clarification on my part. Thanks!

Before I forget it looks like I missed your question in the hand you linked. For future reference, when you post a reply that you'd like us to reply back to hit the "advise evaluator to take another look at the hand". This will turn the hand from "Evaluated by X" into a "!" and draw our attention right away. Due to the high number of hands posted daily your replies will get buried pretty fast if you don't use the above approach.

Now back to your question.

Just to clarify I did not advise (hopefully didn't imply) that you shouldn't 3-bet there. I was answering your question as to how to choose between a 3-bet and a call.

It was this part I was answering: "My question is, how do I decide if calling or 3-betting in this hand is the best line to take? In my case, I would just flat if open-raiser was UTG. Are there any other factors to take into account?"

In that particular spot, given the money in the pot and the fact that you think they can call wide (and I agree) it's a good 3-bet squeeze. However I also feel that in those positions we also have to shove over a 4-bet more often than fold and that's the part I was asking you about.

Now to clarify this I think your line is great (and I would squeeze too) but your raise size is a bit big. We are in a spot where we will have bluffs too and we also want to allow opponents to make mistakes and call wider. The larger we raise the tighter their ranges will become.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Hi Coach, I understand.

I hope I get this right, basically you mean if I am going to 3-bet for value, many times I do need to shove over a 4-bet if not I would be much better off just flatting.

I think this line is good for opp whom I have information and stats and ready to play for stacks w AK. Vs unknowns especially at early positions, I think it's better to just flat since I do not know how often he reacts to a 3-bet and how often he 4-bets (and a "standard" player probably just 4-bet QQ+/AK which I'm in bad shape).

Originally posted by cheekopeh

Hi Coach, I understand.

I hope I get this right, basically you mean if I am going to 3-bet for value, many times I do need to shove over a 4-bet if not I would be much better off just flatting.

I think this line is good for opp whom I have information and stats and ready to play for stacks w AK. Vs unknowns especially at early positions, I think it's better to just flat since I do not know how often he reacts to a 3-bet and how often he 4-bets (and a "standard" player probably just 4-bet QQ+/AK which I'm in bad shape).

Hi,

When you 3-bet a hand for value you have to always ask yourself two questions:

A) What worse calls me
B) Can enough worse hands 4-bet/call or 4-bet/fold?

There are situations where only A has to be true for us to be able to 3-bet for value. For example if we have a guy that calls all broadways and PPs but only 4-bets KK/AA then we can even 3-bet QQ/AK and fold them to a 4-bet. And they would be a 3-bet for value versus their calling range.

Originally posted by cheekopeh
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.)

NL5 Speed 22s Isolation

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.)

NL10 ZOOM 6max Tough spot

Question 3: You are on the flop with K :spade:Q :diamond:. The board cards are J :spade:, 9 :club:, 8 :heart:, and your opponent holds 7 :club:7 :heart:. What is your equity in this spot?

Once again, trying w/o Equilab first. A Ten here gives us the better straight, so essentially we have 6 outs against our opp's 77s. I think our equity here isn't too bad, probably 38%?

Upon checking Equilab, it is actually 41.41%.

I guess watching all those poker videos w the equities on all their hands helped!

Homework 4 done!

Well done,

Homework 4 complete.

Great to see that you able to estimate the equity of the KQ hand without the need of equilab. Would you be able to do the same while playing in under 15 seconds?

If not it's time to practice some more