NoMistakes

    • NoMistakes
      NoMistakes
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.03.2010 Posts: 153
      Hello to all members of PS,

      :spade: My name is Gvidas , I'm 21 years old. I decided to give it a try for this beginners course. I am not a new person to poker , playing poker for about 2 years now mostly MTT tourneys(Started from SNG). Now started playing live in casino as I reached 21 , playing most of the tourneys here so far so good , feeling comfortable at the tables cashed in two tourneys so far(out of 5 and have a profit of 16BB). Worth mentioning that i reached 21 this month.

      :heart: What about cash games , during the periond i was playing online SNG and MTT i tried to give it a shot for cash games at NL2, NL4, NL10. I was playing without any strategy only with my experience from SNG and MTT I know it sounds stupid but i managed to play break-even game at NL2 and NL4.

      :diamond: My goal : I won't stop playing MTT live at casino(it is my pririoty), but I want to give it a try for cash games online at my spare time and also to make some money and to gain more and more experience playing it. I am going to deposit about 60-70$ to online poker room and start from NL2.

      :club: Lesson 1 :club:


      Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

      :spade: As it is simple as is hard to make as much money as I can in long-term and to learn as many theory and concepts on how to play cash games and how to become a winning player in this type of game.

      Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?

      :heart: I think I overplay many situations(mostly with low pairs like 22-99). I feel that i am not playing well in 3bet-4bet pots and I definately need to improve my game on post-flop play.

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

      :diamond: It means to play a tight range of hands( not many hands about 10-15%) and aggressive is to play these hands aggressively pre-flop and post-flop maximizing value of yours winnings.
  • 11 replies
    • NoMistakes
      NoMistakes
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.03.2010 Posts: 153
      :club: Lesson 2 :club:


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

      :heart: I think the button range must be wider to make more steals possible.

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

      :spade: 10/10 NL2 vs shortstack

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

      :diamond:
             Equity     Win     Tie
      UTG    46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
      UTG+1  53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      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.

      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.
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      Good job! Homework #2 Done!

      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.

      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 Course so far.
    • NoMistakes
      NoMistakes
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.03.2010 Posts: 153
      :club: Lesson 3 :club:


      Question 0: Download and install the Equilab.

      :spade: Done!.

      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 AJ

      5 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, BU calls $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06.

      Flop: ($0.25) 263 (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...?

      :heart: I would definately call because Total Pot = $0,91 and we have to call $0,22 so we are getting ~4,16:1 odds. For flushdraw we need 4:1. Also we can have A and J as an out or even a 4. But I will choose a call here.

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

      Ak Nl2 30 03
      Aa Nl2 30 03
      A10 Nl2
      86 Nl2 30 03
      Kj Nl2 30 03
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      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:spade: 5:diamond: 3:spade:
      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!
    • NoMistakes
      NoMistakes
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.03.2010 Posts: 153
      :club: Lesson 4 :club:


      Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation in which you have the initiative postflop.

      :spade: 99 as PR 31.03
      :spade: AK NL2 pre-flop 31.03

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

      :heart: Qj

      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?

      :diamond:
             Equity     Win     Tie
      UTG    41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KQo }
      UTG+1  58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 77 }
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      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:spade: 9:club: 8:heart:
             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.
    • NoMistakes
      NoMistakes
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.03.2010 Posts: 153
      :club: Lesson 5 :club:


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

      :spade: Nl2 / Fr / K10 04.03

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

      :heart: NL2 A2s Blindsteal
      :heart: NL2 AKo

      Question 3: Consider the following situation:

      $10 NL Hold'em (7-handed)

      Stacks & Stats:
      UTG ($10)
      MP ($8)
      MP2 ($9)
      CO ($10)
      Hero($10)
      SB ($10) (17/13/2.6/24/1212) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
      BB ($10) (27/9/2.0/29/333) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]

      Preflop: Hero is BU with 6 , 7
      4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

      Flop: ($1.20) 3 , 3 , T (3 players)
      SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

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

      :diamond: There is no point to slowplay our flush here so I would raise in this situation to 4$.

      Question 4: Consider the following situation:


      $10 NL Hold'em (8-handed)

      Stacks & Stats
      UTG ($8)
      MP ($10)
      MP2 ($9)
      MP3 ($6)
      Hero ($10)
      BU ($10) (25/21/3.8/26/1250) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
      SB ($10)
      BB ($10)

      Preflop: Hero is CO with J , J
      4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU 3-bets to $1.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.30

      Flop: ($2.75) 6 , 9 , T (2 players)
      Hero...

      :club: I would check/call if he bets here and revaluate on the turn.
    • NoMistakes
      NoMistakes
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.03.2010 Posts: 153
      Decided to put my graph and show you how I am doing right now.

      Here it is :

    • NoMistakes
      NoMistakes
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.03.2010 Posts: 153
      :spade: Today had sick session anyways +1$.

      :club: Here are the bad beats against fishes :

      :diamond: FIRST :diamond:

      Party, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
      Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

      CO: $1.25 (62.5 bb)
      MP3: $1.97 (98.5 bb)
      BB: $1.95 (97.5 bb)
      Hero (UTG+2): $2.63 (131.5 bb)
      MP2: $2.79 (139.5 bb)
      MP1: $4.05 (202.5 bb)
      SB: $1.07 (53.5 bb)
      BTN: $2.50 (125 bb)

      Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with 6:heart: 6:club:
      Hero raises to $0.08, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.08, 5 folds

      Flop: ($0.19) 8:spade: 5:diamond: 8:diamond: (2 players)
      Hero bets $0.14, MP2 raises to $0.28, Hero calls $0.14

      Turn: ($0.75) 6:diamond: (2 players)
      Hero checks, MP2 bets $1.40, Hero raises to $2.27 and is all-in, MP2 calls $0.87

      River: ($5.29) 5:club: (2 players, 1 is all-in)

      Results: $5.29 pot ($0.26 rake)
      Final Board: 8:spade: 5:diamond: 8:diamond: 6:diamond: 5:club:
      Hero mucked 6:heart: 6:club: and lost (-$2.63 net)
      MP2 showed 8:club: 7:spade: and won $5.03 ($2.40 net)

      :heart: SECOND :heart:


      Party, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
      Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

      MP2: $2 (100 bb)
      MP3: $6.98 (349 bb)
      UTG+2: $2.16 (108 bb)
      Hero (MP1): $2 (100 bb)
      BB: $3.84 (192 bb)
      SB: $2 (100 bb)
      BTN: $2 (100 bb)
      CO: $3.87 (193.5 bb)

      Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q:diamond: Q:club:
      UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, 2 folds, CO raises to $0.14, 3 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, CO raises to $0.66, Hero raises to $2 and is all-in, CO calls $1.34

      Flop: ($4.03) 5:heart: 4:diamond: 7:club: (2 players, 1 is all-in)
      Turn: ($4.03) 4:heart: (2 players, 1 is all-in)
      River: ($4.03) 3:spade: (2 players, 1 is all-in)

      Results: $4.03 pot ($0.20 rake)
      Final Board: 5:heart: 4:diamond: 7:club: 4:heart: 3:spade:
      Hero mucked Q:diamond: Q:club: and lost (-$2 net)
      CO showed 6:heart: A:diamond: and won $3.83 ($1.83 net)

      :club: And here is the graph after 4K hands :club: :

    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      Good Job! Homework #5 Done!

      Seems like you are running really good and playing good pokah. :)

      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.