YxieAA

Hi Miep62,

congrats to your successfully finished school and welcome to the Beginners School again!

As you are already experienced, it would be great if you help the beginners a little bit

let us know how you get on and good luck with your studies!
Ingrid

sure i'll try to help. I told myself to be more active on the forum anyway

Originally posted by Miep62
sure i'll try to help. I told myself to be more active on the forum anyway

yeey! ^^ making us all happy! Keep posting/discussing!

Hi,
as life is whats happening to you when you are bussy making other plans i have been away from the second round of pokerschool even before i started lesson 1. But now i'm back. New start, new nick and ready to go.

So here is homework lesson 1.

Question 1
My motivation to play poker is that i just like the game. The challenge to beat the other players. It is always nice to be right about the hand they have. But that is not very easy at NL10 i must say. They keep suprising me.

Question 2

This is what leakbuster tells me.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/97/leakbusterlast5months.jpg/


Big leaks:

There is one stat that i am really supprised about. I really have a hard time believing that i call 2/3 of the 3-bets, really!!

It seems that i call to many flop raises too. I think i overplay second pairs
on the flop and don't respect draw-heavy bords enough.

Agg is to low but the agg% are not to bad. Leakbuster finds flop agg. on the low and and turn agg on the high end. I don't exactly know how the fix the agg. factor leak exept for trying to find more spots to 4-bet.

I should try to c-bet less on the turn. My problem with that is that other players might exploit you by making bluf-bets on the turn after you checked and you give up the best hand to easy.

I should open raise from SB less but pfr is on the low end of the range,
so i don't exactly know how to fix this.


Question 3

To play Tight Agressive means that we play a selected range of good hands, based om our hand, our position and the table action.
When we are in the pot we play aggressive by betting and raising but we do not make unneccessary bets.

This play works because most time we will dominate the more loose players. Loose and unobservant players will pay us off, while observant players will repect our bets more.

so, this is lesson 1. I hope you can give me some advice about how to fix my leaks, besides checking out the leakbuster video's about them.

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

First thing first, I see you got your name changed. Also of course taking 2nd round is totally fine. I am pretty sure you will find something new there anyways, at least from the coachings and hand evaluations.

What's the sample size of the hands? But the call vs 3bet is damn loose, that's definitely a huge leak and where you loosing the most money. You really have to fix that, start to force yourself to fold to 3bets. Always try to understand against what kind of opponent you Call and you always have to be sure that your hand crushes his 3betting range.

Most of the weakness from the pic 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.

AF, well could be a bit higher but I doubt that if you are playing rather lower stakes it's gonna be very important. You don't have to be over-aggressive there. If you still winning money then let it be. Also I would advice not to concentrate that much on the leakbuster tells.

I should try to c-bet less on the turn. My problem with that is that other players might exploit you by making bluf-bets on the turn after you checked and you give up the best hand to easy.

Definitely, CB turn is way too high. You as well loosing money there. You might even 2nd barrel too often in 3bet pots where you may loose even a lot more money. Rather find those spots where to not to CB at all. Right now seems that with CB flop you are doing great but having huge leak 2nd barreling. Most likely thinking that everyone is floating.

I should open raise from SB less but pfr is on the low end of the range,so i don't exactly know how to fix this.

If you have a good reason to raise then don't take a look at the stat. But it's gonna be very often the case that people try to steal way too often from SB and loosing a lot money from it. So watch for it out as well.

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.

Hi,

thanks for your comment on my stats, they are over 16920 hands. After seeing the stats i adjusted my game.

About calling 3bets. When should you actually call a 3bet?
If you are holding AA/KK you 4bet all-in. All other hands should be folded to a 3bet, according to the article 'how to play before the flop'.

I do not cbet on the turn that much anymore. I got a lot of turnbets against me in the cases i checked and had to fold
and i survived


Here is homework lesson 2

Question 1

You can play some hands more aggressive in order to steal the blinds
(for fold-equity + you have position postflop)
or to isolate a single limper like raising with low pairs.
You could also raise with suited facecards to isolate a single limper but this is more tricky because you have to be careful not to isolate your self against better hands. Plus they are more difficult to play post flop then the low pairs. Low pairs play fairly easy post flop. If you don't hit your set your done with the hand. Suited connectors/facecard can put you in difficult spots.

Question 2
My questions:
-Why does the SHC tells you to call with a low pair when you are SB and all players folded before you, but you should raise from CO and BU?
-When do you en when do you not play suited connectors/facecards to isolate?
-Up from wich stakes do you start openraising 3bb instead of 4bb from CO en BU?
-How do you play a table like this preflop? Short stacks were from maniacs
vpip/pfr 39/28 en 36/25) to rocks and one of the big stacks played 34/9. Not to many hands but this was enough for me to leave the table

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.04(BB) Replayer
SB ($5.88)
Hero ($5.03)
UTG ($1.55)
UTG+1 ($1.08)
UTG+2 ($1.10)
MP1 ($1.16)
MP2 ($7.18)
CO ($4)
BTN ($1.32)


+ this hand in the handevaluation forum:
NL10-AQ against LAG

Question 3
46,32%

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

About calling 3bets. When should you actually call a 3bet?

Easiest answer for this is if you expect the opponent to 3bet with worse holdings. For example if you hold KQ and you expect him to 3bet with hands like K9 or whatsoever. Since if you 4bet he is just going to fold those.

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.

Isolating can be very profitable actually since people on lower stakes take the fast and easy line by just Fit/Folding too much. With that you will earn in long run a lot profit. Which means you can isolate with even wider range, sometimes even with the all range which you planned to limp.

-Why does the SHC tells you to call with a low pair when you are SB and all players folded before you, but you should raise from CO and BU?

Well, the reason is mostly that you gonna play your hand OOP and it's not that easy to play with them. But obviously the chart isn't MUST FOLLOW chart, you can always adjust to yourself according how good you are and how well you feel playing those hands. I'd also rather raise with them.

-When do you en when do you not play suited connectors/facecards to isolate?

Well, didn't get the question that perfectly. But I guess you asking either to isolate with those hands and when not. Usually I wouldn't isolate when you are against a small-stack. Then rather just play passively.

-Up from wich stakes do you start openraising 3bb instead of 4bb from CO en BU?

Well, you can start from whichever stake you want and when you are comfortable with it. It's not something you have to do always. But usually on NL2-NL10 I'd advice to use just basic strategy with 4xBB.

-How do you play a table like this preflop? Short stacks were from maniacsvpip/pfr 39/28 en 36/25) to rocks and one of the big stacks played 34/9. Not to many hands but this was enough for me to leave the table

Well, really hard to describe the whole game theory here. Since it would take longlong time to do that. Few articles maybe even. Easy answer, I'd just play my standard play and try not to Call down those small loose stacks and isolate very light.

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.

Thanks for your great answers (even though its not the whole game theory )


Homework lesson 3:

1) equity=50.78 and changes to 26.46

2) we can call here.

We have a flusdraw and need 4:1 and getting just a bit more.
Plus we have 2 overcards. Our equity= ~45/50% and we need 19,47 to breakeven

3)
NL4: set against looser than loose
and
NL4 another set against looser than loose

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 and also 3. 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!

Homework week 4

Question 1

NL4 JJ op AQ8 rainbow flop


Question 2

Nl10 sh AJs
Nl2 Aa


Question 3


Board: J 9 8
       Equity   Winst   Split
UTG    41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KsQd }
UTG+1  58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 7h7c }

Good job! Homework #4 Done!

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

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.

Homework lesson 5

Question 1
NL10: JJ fold on flop

Question 2
NL2 KJ Single Suited Board

Question 3
It is a difficult spot. What to do, raise to protect our low flush or just call and keep the pot small?
The board isn't safe and two other players still in the hand calls for a passive line but i think my hand is just to good now and i'll go for a raise and even go broke

Question 4
I'll go for a check/raise here. Opponent seems loose and aggressive enough to make a bet but i also like to pick up the pot right here because of straight possibilities and overcards that may hit on the turn or river

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. Some more points earned.

Homework lesson 5

Question 1
NL4: hit 4-of a kind on flop


Question 2

QQ nit

Question 3

2 pair is good enough to play agaist a donk bet and now we have to decide if we just call and go for potcontrol or raise for protection.

Our opponent is a callingstation so if he bets that usualy means he has a hand. There are 3 other players in the hand, he plays OOP and his bet is only 1/2 post size, so he does not seem to think he has to protect his hand.
All that makes me think he has a very stong hand.
So i rather go for potcontrol. A raise would be to much for our hand.

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.

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

Homework lesson 7

question 1
NL4 SH:77 on 627 1-suited board

question 2
middle set shove?

question 3
we have to pay 8,40 to stay in this pot. Opponents might be having sets but even then we have the odds to call.

question 4
In active play i think i find myself raising opponents bet, but now we have more time to think about the situation, and calling comes to mind. The board is dry and we don't have to be so aggressive. We might win more money by calling, like from worse aces, at later streets.

Good Job! Homework #7 Done!

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

Board: Q 3 2
Dead:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best of Luck on the Tables.

Homework week 8

question1
NL4 SH QQ-hand

question2
NL10 SH: QQ overpair

question 3
we hit our flush but we have to protect. We don't want to see another comming on the river, so we have to make it really expensive for opponent This means we have to go all in here.

question 4
pre flop: we openraise utg preflop with suited connectors. I guess at that limits and if you are confident with your post flop play that is fine.

Flop: we hit very nice, and are just checking to induce a bet by one of our opponents.

Turn: we can not bet here as we are called by 2 players on the flop

River: we bet the river and now we get raised by a TAG. Is he holding KK or QQ? Very well possible. What other hands are consistent with his play? We don't know if he is cappabe of bluffing this big.
I don't now if i could fold the hand but i think we should.


Hi veriz,
so this is the last homework and the last day of this year. I'll take the exam somewhere in january.

Best wishes for 2012 to you and everyone you love and care about!

Good Job! Homework #8 Done!

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

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

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

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

Best of Luck in The Exam! Happy New Year!