Coach double2 Blog

Hi guys, I haven't been posting lately, I really don't want this blog to be just a "quick easy post" thing so I end up postponing making something more elaborate.

I remember that when I was in 25NL/50NL I didn't really know exactly what a good 200nl reg was doing better than me, of course I knew he would be a better hand reader, he would be looser and more agressive. But besides those general ideas I really didn't have a clue. I'll try to talk a bit about those differences, which is pretty much the same as pointing the most common leaks in a struggling 25NL reg. Maybe I'll do multiple posts about this, taking one topic at a time.

1- The 25NL reg isn't adjusting enough to the overall nitiness of blind play of the other regulares

I you take on a database of 25NL you'll find that a good amount of the regulars are folding BB vs BU open more that 70%, some of them more than 75%. Those numbers are just huge. Simply, the BB is folding way more than it should and BUs should be exploing this fact by min raising buttons no less than 75% open raising range (when of course at least on of the blinds, especially BB, fullfill the criteria).

So, if a good 200NL reg would play 25NL seriously he would realize quickly this fact and would adjust similarly to the way I'm saying.

By the same logic, we should not be defending our opening range versus 3bet in a balanced manner because we are exploiting the fact that blinds fold too much, so when they don't fold they have a stronger range than normal, hence we should be folding more than we theoretically would. Of course you could argue that we open ourselves to being exploited back. But do you really think that a reg that defends his blind so poorly is going to spot you and increase his 3betting frequencies? For the most part I would say "no way".

Tell me if you like these kind of texts and I'll make an effort to do more.

Originally posted by double2

Tell me if you like these kind of texts and I'll make an effort to do more.

I do, keep em coming

Originally posted by double2
Hi guys, I haven't been posting lately, I really don't want this blog to be just a "quick easy post" thing so I end up postponing making something more elaborate.

I remember that when I was in 25NL/50NL I didn't really know exactly what a good 200nl reg was doing better than me, of course I knew he would be a better hand reader, he would be looser and more agressive. But besides those general ideas I really didn't have a clue. I'll try to talk a bit about those differences, which is pretty much the same as pointing the most common leaks in a struggling 25NL reg. Maybe I'll do multiple posts about this, taking one topic at a time.

1- The 25NL reg isn't adjusting enough to the overall nitiness of blind play of the other regulares

I you take on a database of 25NL you'll find that a good amount of the regulars are folding BB vs BU open more that 70%, some of them more than 75%. Those numbers are just huge. Simply, the BB is folding way more than it should and BUs should be exploing this fact by min raising buttons no less than 75% open raising range (when of course at least on of the blinds, especially BB, fullfill the criteria).

So, if a good 200NL reg would play 25NL seriously he would realize quickly this fact and would adjust similarly to the way I'm saying.

By the same logic, we should not be defending our opening range versus 3bet in a balanced manner because we are exploiting the fact that blinds fold too much, so when they don't fold they have a stronger range than normal, hence we should be folding more than we theoretically would. Of course you could argue that we open ourselves to being exploited back. But do you really think that a reg that defends his blind so poorly is going to spot you and increase his 3betting frequencies? For the most part I would say "no way".

Tell me if you like these kind of texts and I'll make an effort to do more.

I'm playing NL25 and I actually aware of this (that most regs do not defend enough vs BU). And I guess almost every regs at this limit aware of this.

My problem is I don't sure how to max EV this fact. :f_cry:
(But I guess most regs also do not know howto)

At first I try to steal more but then I notice that I folded more than 75% "3b vs steal" . And then people say it's a leak and I have to fix it. FUCK! How to fix it? Do I have to stay steal wide and defend looser?? Or I should steal tighter??

I like to hear more about this topic. There are none good player talking in deep about this topic that I aware of. Thanks in advance.

Hi Patszer,

It's like I said in the last paragraph of my text. I think it's an exploit on our part to open very wide on BU and fold a to 3bets. So I strongly disagree that folding on BU 75% it's a leak in 25nl. It's a really exploitable characteristic of our game but, inherently, it's a really exploitative feature as well (in conjuction with wide steal from BU). Because I assume that most regs don't readjust. Also, I suggest you guys add to your pop ups the stat "3bet vs Hero" so you can identify quickly who are the few that do adjust, and against those you should obviously open tighter on BU and 4bet/call 3bets more.

Does that make sense?

Loving it!

Do you ever concider the SB? I always look at them both before I open tbh. There are people that are overly protecting their SB for some reason and then I nit up a bit.

Originally posted by RasTweet
Loving it!

Do you ever concider the SB? I always look at them both before I open tbh. There are people that are overly protecting their SB for some reason and then I nit up a bit.

I do consider the SB but he plays a less proeminent role because if SB is folding 75-80% vs BU steal he's doing what he is supposed to. But yeah, sure, we should see who SB is and how he plays. It's relevant if he 3bets 25% the BU and it's relevant if he folds 85%.

Keep them coming, this is awesome

Originally posted by double2
Tell me if you like these kind of texts and I'll make an effort to do more.

Oh my god, please, DO !

Oh my god, please, DO ! fish love

+1

Continuing with the concept of the previous post:

2 - The 25NL regular is not defending enough his blinds

As I said in my first educational post, 25NL player should be stealing the blinds agressively because other regs defend the blinds poorly. Well, today we're gonna at the other side of the barricade.

Not a long time ago it was a commom place to hear things like "avoid playing OOP", "don't chase your blinds", "be IP as much as you can".

Today we know this is flawed advice. Yes, we know we have a positional disadvantage, our equity is more difficult to realize, blah blah blah. But it's as simple as this: when we fold the BB we make a winrate of -100bbs/100hands. If we can do better than this by not folding, then we should not fold. Just grab your database, filter for situations where you call BB vs BU with your bottom range and see your win rate. If it's like close to BE, that means you should be probably calling wider.

I remember that not a long time ago I was 3betting Axs BB vs BU because I didn't think it was good enough to call. Nowaways I'm calling all Kxs vs a 3bb open from BU. Vs a BU 2bb open, hands like T6s or J2s should be a snap call. Or at least not a snap fold. And remember, since we have just good odds pre flop, that means we should be c/folding on a ton of flops, we don't need to fight for every pot, we just have to do enough to make the call better than a fold.

I invite you to bring hands where we call from the BB and have to play post flop, because that's the next question: how to play post flop with such a weak range?

Originally posted by double2
And remember, since we have just good odds pre flop, that means we should be c/folding on a ton of flops, we don't need to fight for every pot, we just have to do enough to make the call better than a fold.

VERY nice ! Thank you

Hi guys,

It's been a long time since I last posted, but the truth is that I've not been particulary motivated to make strategy posts since there are a bunch of great coaches on PS with great content.

Life has been good to me. I've been doing really well Poker wise, here are this year graph (all zoom 200NL):

I've been working a bunch on my Mental Game. I convinced a friend to be my Mental Coach, and although he has no experience and he's not a psychologist I knew he was the right person to help. We have only done two sessions and I already feel improvement in my mental leaks.

I've also done my first 90 min coaching with Paul "Internet" Otto and really enjoyed it, so I'm gonna loose my mind and do another one.

Also, my new batch of books just arrived, looking forward to read them:

And more news to come...

I recommend Thinking: Fast and Slow to start of with since you are working on your mental game more

Very nice selection of books. I'd like to hear some thoughts on Dawkins and Hitchens since although I haven't read any of their books, I watched many of their talks and debates.

Originally posted by EmanuelC16
I recommend Thinking: Fast and Slow to start of with since you are working on your mental game more

Very nice selection of books. I'd like to hear some thoughts on Dawkins and Hitchens since although I haven't read any of their books, I watched many of their talks and debates.

Thanks. None of these books is Dawkins, the "other one" is from Sam Harris. The God Delusion from Dawkins I already read, really enjoyed it.

Same here, never read anything from Hitchens but watched a bunch of debates

Ooops, my bad. Was gonna ask about The God Delusion. Sam Harris is also very solid.

double2 is excellent coach, better that my english ^^.

Off-Poker post:

I feel somewhat a moral duty to share this link with as many people as I can:

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/why-dont-i-criticize-israel

Cheers,

double2

Originally posted by double2
Off-Poker post:

I feel somewhat a moral duty to share this link with as many people as I can:

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/why-dont-i-criticize-israel

Cheers,

double2

Thank you, kinda comforts me to see this, usually I go into hour long discussion/explanations with people to see Israel's side ...

Hey

Read a bit of the link

Generally i dont agree , the situation is more complex also theres something crucial why did the Jews form Israel ?

Well u have to go back in history they wanted to form a state in the USA
after world war 2 but the USA refused...seeems the palestinian sheperds
didnt have much choice however

+ the USA have a crucial role through they jew lobbis + comercial interests in middle east and they act are responsible for the state of israel without USA help Israel no longer existed

OFC muslim fanatics and bombers are awfull and the extreme poverty + lack of education explain that interesntgly the fanatism fuel feeds on extreme poverty and ignorance and i dont see the USA interested in reverting that

i also see bombing as a last resort If they e fighting a nation wiht super advanced arms and planes what do u want them to do ?

I dont forget they only have stones to throw against tanks

I think the blame here is 50 50
there is no victim here , israel and palestine are guilties

its really a shame that 40 years on or more this conflict never ends

But do you really think that a reg that defends his blind so poorly is going to spot you and increase his 3betting frequencies? For the most part I would say "no way".

Hi, I like your blog because I am trying to teach a friend to beat this limit.
I remember myself playing NL25-Nl50, and folding too much the blinds. The reason for folding too much BB because I was not able to comfortable play weak hands OOP even though I have to call only 1BB to see the flop.
I also saw many guys who had steal from BU and SB > 75%. I was aware of my leak that I fold too much blinds, but I had also other things to improve which were easier. I was aware also that if somebody steals so much the blinds, he has to fold a lot vs 3bets, and that I can 3bet him much wider especially BB vs SB.
Even though I was 3betting much wider, I was still folding too much blinds, because I still didn't want to complete with hands like K8o, and I didn't 3bet e.g. > 30%. So I wanted to say, regs are definitely able to recognize when somebody steals too wide and folds vs 3bet a lot, but it doesn't mean that BU might still be making +EV steals. Off course, if both blinds start 3betting us wider, then we can't anymore steal profitable, so we should steal tighter only vs them.