trzewia

Hello Konrad,

Welcome to the course.

For more information on each lesson please visit this link: Welcome to the No Limit Beginners Course Forums

Best of luck and keep us posted.

Bogdan

Thanks,
is my homework good? Can I get the next assignment?
Regards,
Konrad

Originally posted by trzewia
Thanks,
is my homework good? Can I get the next assignment?
Regards,
Konrad

Hi Trzewia,

Your homework is perfect.

Feel free to continue with the next assignment.

HOMEWORK 2
Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?
It is not unwise to loosen up my range against a tight table and occasionally against single opponents.

Examples would include stealing blinds from BU and even CO with cards like offsuit connectors, suited one gappers, suited kings, especially against "rock" type players. Also I can raise and 3bet a wider range to isolate fish/weak limpers. I was pretty surprised to find out it actually works.

I would sometimes play connectors and suited aces in multi-way min-raised pots, as it is still cheap to see the flop and with nuts you can break people.

Also I think I could sometimes call with any pocket pair in early position, for set mining. Not 100% sure about that though.

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation
NL2 A6o
NL2 KJo
Both far from perfect ♦

I have one question: on 2 videos in the course lesson 2 (crushing nl50 and veriz's coaching) they actually said different things about how to apply the "call 20" rule. Does the 20x raise amount include the actual raise and the pot built before?

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo.
46.32%

I have one more question
Do you think it's wise to go through my microstakes on a smaller pokerroom? So far I'm playing on pokerstars and there are very few fish here.

Regards,
Konrad

I'm on a roll, baby! Watched and read everything in the curriculum for lesson 3 and I've got another assignment ready.

HOMEWORK 3
Question 1: You are holding K :spade:Q :spade:. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3 :diamond:3 :spade:? How does the equity change on this flop: J :spade:5 :diamond:3 :club:?
50,78% preflop, 26,46% postflop

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand?
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...?

If we take the odds and outs approach, the pot is 0,25 from previous river + 0,22 our bet + 0,44 villain's minraise = 0,91. We need to call 0,22 more, so the pot odds are ~4,1:1. We are on a nut flush draw and if we do not discount any odds, our draw is 4:1. Pot odds > odds, so call.

If we want to discount odds that could possibly give our opponent a full house, we would discount 3 and 6 :club:, which makes our outs 9-2=7 and odds= 6:1. This means we would have to extract ~0,40 on river to be profitable. Both we and the opponent are pretty deep stacked, but we are OOP and have no further info on opponent. He is signaling a set of 5s, or two-pair, our play signals a draw, so if a club comes it would be tricky, but not impossible to extract the money. 0,40 would make around half of pot on river and a check/call on river could give us the implied odds we need. Therefore, call. Not a very clear situation though.

This is not an all-in situation, so I don't think I should use equity calculations here, right?

Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.
Nl2 Qq

Looking forward to hearing from you if I messed up anything ♦
Regards,
Konrad

Originally posted by trzewia
HOMEWORK 2
Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?
It is not unwise to loosen up my range against a tight table and occasionally against single opponents.

Examples would include stealing blinds from BU and even CO with cards like offsuit connectors, suited one gappers, suited kings, especially against "rock" type players. Also I can raise and 3bet a wider range to isolate fish/weak limpers. I was pretty surprised to find out it actually works.

I would sometimes play connectors and suited aces in multi-way min-raised pots, as it is still cheap to see the flop and with nuts you can break people.

Also I think I could sometimes call with any pocket pair in early position, for set mining. Not 100% sure about that though.

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation
NL2 A6o
NL2 KJo
Both far from perfect ♦

I have one question: on 2 videos in the course lesson 2 (crushing nl50 and veriz's coaching) they actually said different things about how to apply the "call 20" rule. Does the 20x raise amount include the actual raise and the pot built before?

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo.
46.32%

I have one more question
Do you think it's wise to go through my microstakes on a smaller pokerroom? So far I'm playing on pokerstars and there are very few fish here.

Regards,
Konrad

Hi Konrad,

Q1: Why were you surprised that you can isolate weak opponents wider?

Also, I would recommend not limping in small pocket pairs IF you are the first to put money into the pot. Raising is usually much superior unless you play at a table where everyone will call you and thus we don't want to build the pot without hitting.

Q2: For 20x, I just multiply whatever I have to call by it and that's the min effective stack left to play for.

Example: Villain raises to 30c, and I have to call 20c in the blinds. Now I multiply 20c by 20 and get 400c or $4. So if he has $4 left behind (or more) then we can call.

Best of luck,

Bogdan

Originally posted by trzewia
I'm on a roll, baby! Watched and read everything in the curriculum for lesson 3 and I've got another assignment ready.

HOMEWORK 3
Question 1: You are holding K :spade:Q :spade:. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3 :diamond:3 :spade:? How does the equity change on this flop: J :spade:5 :diamond:3 :club:?
50,78% preflop, 26,46% postflop

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand?
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...?

If we take the odds and outs approach, the pot is 0,25 from previous river + 0,22 our bet + 0,44 villain's minraise = 0,91. We need to call 0,22 more, so the pot odds are ~4,1:1. We are on a nut flush draw and if we do not discount any odds, our draw is 4:1. Pot odds > odds, so call.

If we want to discount odds that could possibly give our opponent a full house, we would discount 3 and 6 :club:, which makes our outs 9-2=7 and odds= 6:1. This means we would have to extract ~0,40 on river to be profitable. Both we and the opponent are pretty deep stacked, but we are OOP and have no further info on opponent. He is signaling a set of 5s, or two-pair, our play signals a draw, so if a club comes it would be tricky, but not impossible to extract the money. 0,40 would make around half of pot on river and a check/call on river could give us the implied odds we need. Therefore, call. Not a very clear situation though.

This is not an all-in situation, so I don't think I should use equity calculations here, right?

Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.
Nl2 Qq

Looking forward to hearing from you if I messed up anything ♦
Regards,
Konrad

Hi Konrad,

Congrats, homework 3 complete as well !

Q2: your approach is good. Equity tells us how often we will win the hand and in this case we are assuming we are always behind so it tells us how often we get there.

I think straights are more likely than 2p/sets given the flop action, which you should always take into account.

Keep up the good work,

Bogdan

HOMEWORK 4
Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation in which you have the initiative postflop
Nl2 AT
Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members
It was pretty tough to find a hand that WASN'T evaluated, so I just picked this and didn't read the evaluation
Nl2 Fr Kk
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?
41,41%

Additional Q&A:
Your Q: Why were you surprised that you can isolate weak opponents wider?
My A: in the beginning I lived by the "if the table is loose, play tight" rule, but now I started thinking in ranges and know it's profitable

My 1st Q from before: Do you think I should grind my microstakes on a site smaller than Pokerstars? Not many fish on Pokerstars

My 2nd Q: During my home live low stakes cash games with friends I often find myself in a situation where ppl don't respect my preflop raises: I'm in late position with a strong hand, get like 4 limpers (ppl like to see the flop), raise to 8bb and... get called by almost everyone (again, they like to see the flop).

It is not uncommon for them to even call smaller 3-bets a lot preflop (someone minraises, gets called, I 3bet with a strong hand and they all call this raise)

And suddenly no matter what I held before, even a TPTK or and overpair look weak in a multi-way and I basically need to flop a monster to feel comfortable

Should I:
-raise bigger preflop?
-limp in with them?
-play for pot control with medium-strong hands?
-make big cbets? (they often call those with mid pair+)?

Hi Konrad,

Congrats, homework 4 complete.

1st Q: You have to look at the rake structure of other sites and see how that will affect your winrates. Generally speaking Stars is a good place to start your journey and it usually has enough fish. However, any of the other affiliate PokerStrategy platforms offer good games for microstakes players.

2nd Q: Generally this will be the type of play you will encounter a lot at live games (home games or even casino games).

Depending on the number of limp/callers you generally can't isolate just one or two so we cannot raise too many hands. Thus we need to tighten our raising range and expend our limping behind range.

And once you get callers you want to play for pure value as long as the board and action is not too scary. Of course it depends on each of your opponents but you'd want to valuebet your big hands until told otherwise especially if they often call with weak hands.

HOMEWORK 5
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.)
NL2 AQs
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 FR A8s

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 6Diamond , 7Diamond
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20) 3Diamond , 3Heart , TDiamond (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

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

What action would you take, and why?

SB most likely paired his Jx, I would reraise to $3-$4 to protect my hand in case one of them (most likely BB) actually picked up a better flush draw.

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 JHeart , JSpade
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU 3-bets to $1.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.30

Flop: ($2.75) 6Heart , 9Spade , TClub (2 players)
Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

I would bet 1/2 pot. Opponent is rather aggressive, check/calling would give us very little information about his hand. We want him to call with unpaired broadways/AT, a reraise by him would probably mean a pocket pair higher than 88, which has us beat.

HOMEWORK 6
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.)
Multiway:
NL2 FR A6s
Freeplay&slowplay:
NL2 FR A6s
Multiway limped:
Nl2 Fr 88
Freeplay:
www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=1374114
Multiway:
www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=1374135

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.)
nl 2 j5

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 QHeart , JHeart
5 folds, MP3 raises $1.00, CO calls $1.00, Hero calls $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.10) 3Heart , JClub , ADiamond (4 players)
BB checks, MP3 checks, CO checks, Hero checks

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

What action would you take, and why?
He is a calling station, which means he has something nice. Problem is so do we. We are either far ahead, or far behind. Calling would accomplish nothing. I would probably fold, although a reraise is not out of question (fold to a 3bet shove)

HOMEWORK 7
Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have played on a 6-max table (short-handed).
NL2 SH ATs
Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members
nl2 hero 33
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 5heart , 4heart
2 folds, CO raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

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

We need to pay $8,8 to win $30, so we don't need much equity here. We are in an excellent shape agains overpairs, sets, and given the betting we are most likely against 2 of those. We are in a bad shape only against a better flush draw. I would ship it.

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 Aclub , Kspade
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

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

While we have a very strong hand and don't need much protection, I would still raise it to $3-$4 to get the money in while I can (and hopefully play for stacks against weaker aces and middle pairs).

Additional thoughts
Maaaan, these SH tables are tricky to get into, people are in fact looser and more aggro. It looks tempting to try out some advanced moves. Or am I fooling myself and should just stick to playing good hands fast?

I am also taking stabs at nl5 with my BR at ~$100 and damn it's tight here, FR tables over 30% vpip are hard to find ever on pokerstars.

Is it advisable to grind on FR up the limits? Is it true that better players tend to gravitate towards SH?

HOMEWORK 8
Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation. (Post your hand in the No Limit: Hand Evaluations board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)

NL2 SH AK strange line preflop

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.)

NL5 AQd

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 BU 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?

Opponent's lack of aggression is strange, but we still have to make him pay to draw, so I would bet 2/3 pot for value/protection. If he shoves we call, as he would do so with a lot of weaker hands than ours. If he calls we try to get a cheap/free showdown if the board pairs or a heart comes and value bet if not.

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?

We are getting decent odds to call. Since bluffing is more common on higher limits, he is more likely to do so. The only hands that have us beat are KK and QQ, but he would most likely cbet those on flop. There are plenty of hands in his range that we beat. So, call.

Am I good to go for the final quiz?

Originally posted by trzewia
Am I good to go for the final quiz?

Go for it

The other homeworks look great

Keep up the good work.

Bogdan