Discussions, Lessons and Exercises for the topic: Game Plan

Exercises for "Game Plan (1): Introduction"
Just post your answers to the questions in this thread.

The first step in the creation of a game plan is to analyze your standard opponent. This process can also be described as determining the tendencies of the population. It will help you to tailor your game plan towards the opponents that you will play against most frequently.

Post the answers to the following questions in this thread and get feedback from our coaches!

1. Exercises for analyzing your standard opponent

You open from the CO and face a 3-bet from the BU.

• Post your estimate of the range of an average regular on your limits
• Try to review your assumptions against the database of your tracking software. What hands did you actually see in your opponents' ranges?
• Try to find out how often your opponents will fold against a 4-bet by combining multiple opponents for a bigger sample size.

In the second step, you will build the foundation for determining your own ranges. In order to achieve this, you will look for weaknesses in your opponents' play and experiment with different ways of exploiting them.

2. Practice building your own ranges

• What potential weak points in your opponents' play did you identify?
• What is your range for open raising, calling 3-bets and 4-betting?
• What is your bet sizing when placing a continuation bet in a 4-bet pot?

Unfortunately, not everyone will play exactly like your standard opponent. Accordingly you have to know how to adapt your game plan to different play styles.

3. Practice to adapt your game plan

Your opponent Jimmy folds to 4-Bets 62% of the time. He will 3-bet 11% of the time overall.
•What should your 4-bet strategy against Jimmy look like?

Your opponent Trina pushes AK, TT+, and 55-22 as a bluff whenever you 4-bet . Her 3-bet range is 9%.
• How much fold equity do you get on a 4-Bet against Trina?
• What should your 4-betting range look like?

For the exceptionally diligent:
• Search your database for an extremely aggressive LAG. How do you adapt against him?
(Write down your specific range for calling 3-bets, including ideas on how to continue post-flop and a 4-bet range.)

Every game plan has weaknesses that your opponents can exploit. However, if you are aware of the weaknesses in your game plan, you will be able to tell when an opponent tries to exploit you and you can adapt your ranges accordingly.

4. How would you exploit yourself?!

• What is the weakness of your own game plan?
• What boards hit your range hard in a 3-bet pot and on what flops do you miss?
• In what ways could your opponent exploit that?
• How should you adapt if your opponent tries to exploit you like that?

Further discussion

• When should you abandon the concept of game planning and just try to play your specific hand in a vacuum?
• How would you describe GTO in regard to game planning? What is your opinion on balanced ranges? Do they even exist?

Have fun!

Exercises for playing from UTG

• What are the most important factors that will allow you to open with a wider range from UTG?
• Your open raising range from UTG is (hopefully) just a fraction your BU range. Look up a hand in which you opened from UTG. How would your game plan have changed for hands out of your UTG range if you had opened from the BU instead?
• How do you adapt your play when facing a 3-bet from the SB if he 3-bets you 14% of the time from the SB with a depolarized range? If he hits TPNK, he tends to bet the flop and check/call the turn.

Exercises for playing from MP

• Describe the constellation for a table where you can barely raise K3s profitably from MP.
• How much EV does your opponent gain (or lose) if he 3-bet/5-bet shoves A4s from the button against your basic game plan?
• Post a hand in which you are the pre-flop aggressor and you check your MP range without giving up.

Hi,

why is there no 4bet/call range for UTG vs BB? It 's quite obvious that folding 100% vs 5bet is exploitable right?

Originally posted by DeLau
Hi,

why is there no 4bet/call range for UTG vs BB? It 's quite obvious that folding 100% vs 5bet is exploitable right?

I am quiete ok w/ you... I thing that if we have a 4bet/fold range we must have a 4bet/call range at some point...
The interest of bluffing is to valuate your premium hands or sometimes to exploite some weak opponent. but in general I thing that we always should be balanced w/ the both ranges. Especially in the higher stackes!

Personnaly I would 4bet some combination of premiums (f.e. 50% of KK+) and 4bet/fold KQo. It would give me like 6 combos of value for 12 of bluff. And maybe adding the KQs hand wouldn't be as easy as that to exploit...

After, maybe against some basic regular, it could be ok to just exploit them and take the maximum of value by just flating 100% of premium. But if you suspect your opponnent to do some specific leakfinding against you, you must equilibrate your 4bet range as fast as possible...

my2cent

PS : sorry if my english is not perfect....

Hi,
When the ranges are presented as "3Bet/5Bet" what is an appropriate size for the 5Bet?

For example:
IPoker, $0.02/$0.04 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

Hero (SB): $7.10 (177.5 bb)
BB: $0.35 (8.8 bb)
MP: $5.64 (141 bb)
CO: $5.60 (140 bb)
BTN: $5.51 (137.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A:h Q:d
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.12, Hero raises to $0.32, BB folds, BTN raises to $0.88, Hero raises to ???

I know that the series hasn't got to SB yet, but I looked on the German site and peeked ♠_biggrin:

This is the chart:

3-Bet/5-Bet:
QQ-TT, AdAh, AdAs, AhAs, AdAc, AhAc, KhKs, KhKc, KsKc, AKs, AQo+ (#54, 4%)

And this is the Google Translation of the bet sizing guidelines:
Open raise size: 3BB
3-bet Sizes:
vs. 2BB: BB 7.5
vs. 2.5 BB: 9BB
vs. 3BB: 11

So nothing about 5Bet (or even 4Bet -- but I use the guidelines elsewhere)
And I can see that I 3Bet a bit small

One other question:
Why 3Bet / 5Bet w/ AQo and just call w/ AQs?

This is a great series -- thanks!

--VS

Robert called a 3-bet in MP with range A and has 51% equity on the flop.

Mona 3-bet range B on the BTN and has 49% equity.

For whom would you like to play the rest of the hand?
The dealer just looked deeply into Robert's eyes and asked: "CHECK OR BET?"

The Steal-EV will help you to adapt your ranges for specific tables. The ranges from the basic game plan are tailored towards standard opponents on your stakes. In practice, however, you will hardly ever play at exactly that kind of table. Therefore it's often better to play a looser or tighter range than the standard game plan would suggest.

To the lesson:

• Article
• Video
• Quiz

When determining your own range, your main considerations will always be:
• How much fold equity do I have pre-flop?
• How often will I find myself in a profitable spot post-flop?
• What are the situations in which I am less likely to make money?

Let's look at that concept in practice:

There is a nit fish on the CO and a very competent LAG has the BTN. He likes to overcall in position and will 3-bet 12% of hands. You will have a hard time making any money against this player post-flop, since you can't really make any sense of his mix of floats and raises against c-bets. The players in the blinds are very passive.

Your standard opening range in MP is the following:

Do you want to:
a) play exactly this range?
b) play a tighter range?
c) play a wider range?

To answer these questions, it might be helpful to ask yourself the following questions:
i) What do I think about the ranges and the fold equities of the individual players at the table?
ii) How big is my Steal-EV?
iii) How many hands can I win against the BTN with my bottom range?

Have fun!

Hey, thanks for a good question!

Blinds $0.25/$0.50

UTG ($50.00)
MP ($109.00)
CO ($38.00)
Hero ($56.11)
SB ($62.00)
BB ($56.50)

Villain: good player: 14% call preflop, 8% 3-bet, 37% fold to c-bet, 9% check-raise flop, WTSD 28%

Pre-flop:
3 folds, Hero raises to $1, SB calls, 1 fold
Flop: ($2,50) 3 :spade:2 :diamond:J
SB checks, Hero bets $1.70, SB calls
Turn: ($5,90) 9
SB checks, Hero bets $4, SB calls
River: ($13,90) 9
SB checks, Hero ?

What is your continuation betting strategy in this spot?

Since his fol to cbet is 37%, I'd bet most of my semibluff range,
anything where I have equity - all backdoors, etc.
Since his preflop calling range is so tight.
I expect him to have mostly broadways and big suited cards.
Then I'd bet all my value hands like - JJ+, 22-33.
So, my range mostly consists of draws, but his of
medium pocket pairs and Jx.

What is your plan for barrelling turns and rivers?

I'm barrelling every equity card that helps me -
backdoor FD's and SD's, J9s, J9o, maybe even 9 x :spade:,
but might check it back.

Plan in general is to see, if Villain is a believer or non-believer.
If his going to SHD is high ~30% (nonbeliever), then I'd not bluff busted FD on river. If he is going to SHD -22% (believer) I might bluff also some busted rivers, since Villains range is capped about AJ, KJ and mid PP's like TT, 88.
And the problem with AJ, KJ is that he can 3bet that preflop,
so it mostly depends, if I have that info.

But you said that Villain is good, so he will know that I have a lots of draws
in my range and will be willing to cD w/ any Jx.

Given this info, I'd 3barrell AJ, KJ and all overpairs + other monsters and slightly overbet them on the River to represent a busted FD.

Also, since my image is mostly LAGish/barrell happy, then I'd
not bluff my draws as default. Only If he starts to fold to my River overbets
with monsters, which is KJo and better.

What is your river gameplan: value range/bluff range/check-back range?

I covered that in previous part. Overbet R w/ KJ and better.
Don't bluff busted draws because of my image. check-back - busted draws.

EDIT: I might check all my T range after a cbet and take a free R card.
Which is great against non-believer OP's. There shouldn't be one line for
everything anyway.

Hey Anger,

Did you look in equilab to see what 14% could look like (after taking away the 8% that could 3bet)?

I think that would be a great exercise for you.

Now, compare that range with the board and see how it hits and what type of hands we can bet and barrel.

Originally posted by BogdanPS
Hey Anger,

Did you look in equilab to see what 14% could look like (after taking away the 8% that could 3bet)?

I think that would be a great exercise for you.

Now, compare that range with the board and see how it hits and what type of hands we can bet and barrel.

Hey, thanks for a response!

I just took a look at it.

Ranges in the spoiler:

To construct an effective flatting range he probably will
3bet with polarized range, which is below.
Also his x/r is very low. Which means he is playing his draws very passive.

I start to think, that I want to 2-barrel a lot. It just depends a bit on how the board runs out.

Why? OTF he has there a lots of PP's below TP,
which doesn't like to fold OTF, but folds out OTT.
Then OTT, he has his FD also, which will add to that folding out %.
Which it seems he might play passive, since Flop x/r is 9%.
OTR it's a question of is he can fold a TPgK to overbet.
In that case I might overbet, but since his big fold out spot is OTT,
then I'll 2barrell all day, but give up OTR.
Also, there is ussually a bigger dynamic between BU and SB,
so calling with TPgK here is OK for him.

Let's say that I 2bar and we check down OTR and he shows me
88.
Then I'll start to 3 barrel.

Check back.

Another option is to never cbet with complete air and check/back OTF.
That gives us some possibility to delay cbet and take the pot down vs.
almost anything that is not a pair. That could be about 50% of time +/-.

Check back also some Jx hands which has OK SHD value.

But Cbet.
Stong made hands and also all FD's, SD's and GS's and overcards.
I don't need really great FEQ, because I have some draw equity
and I'm freerolling which is OK and even then I'd 2bar alot of T cards that i miss.

Draw equity + his +/- 38% fold to cbet FEQ = proffit.

EDIT:

Wide BU range: I have marked the hands I'd cbet. A lots of bluffs in my range. About 80%. Hmm.

In this lesson (6-max preflop ranges) I found how to proceed with 3-bet by a player sitting behind me.
Can you refer me to the lesson / proceed with 4-bet by a player sitting behind me?
Thanks

Hey,

I highlighted the suggested action against a 4-Bet for you:

Of course there are some situations that are not covered in the charts, e.g. you open raise from UTG, MP 3bets and CO cold-4-Bets.
In situations like this you have to figure out what kind of response is appropriate yourself. It is just not possible to create more general charts due to the huge number of possibilities in the game of poker.

Feel free to user our hand discussion boards to discuss concrete hands if you are unhappy with your decision in a concrete situation

Cheers,
Arne

Lesson 6-max preflop ranges.
The situations:
UTG Pre-flop Ranges Against a 3-bet from MP
The charts recommend going for 4-Bet/Call if I have:
AdAh, AdAs, AhAs, AdAc, AhAc, KhKs, KhKc, KsKc, AdKh, AdKs, AdKc, AhKs, AhKc, AsKc
The question is:
Why you recommend not doing 4-Bet/Call if I have AsAc?
What is the different between AsAc and other 5 combination of Aces?
Thanks,

Hey,

the problem is that you need to play a Call-3bet strategy as well. If you dont have strong hands in your range after just calling a 3-bet, your other hands in your 3-bet range will suffer a lot.

Find more about it in this video/article: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/bss/2276/1/ (The video is linked on the top right)

Lesson: 6-max PreFlop ranges.

The situations:
MP Pre-flop Ranges Against a 3-bet from the big blind

The charts recommend:
Call if you have combination of Aces
4-Bet/Fold if you have combination of KQs.

The Equity of the Aces and KQs is:
82.95% { AA }
17.05% { KQs }

For me it make more logic to go for 4-Bet when I have higher Equity in this case to go for 4-Bet when I have combination of Aces.
The charts recommend to go for 4-Bet when I have lower Equity in this case when I have combination of KQs.

Question:
Why/What is the reason to go 4-Bet with lower Equity instead of higher Equity?

Thanks,

I've just reached the gold status on Poker Strategy and one of the first things I've done was checking the 'unlocked' strategy topics for NL 6-MAX.
I really like the starting hand sheets based on position and even better, the sheets how to respond to open raises or 3-bets per position.

However, the opening ranges seem to be very, very, very loose for me.
I thought Poker Strategy recommended a TAG play style, but this is extreme LAG!

If I compare it with leak-buster in PokerTracker 4, it is way too loose.

I also noticed that this is analyzed based on 1.5 million hands in NL200, and this was back in 2013.
I'm playing NL10 and it's 2024 now.
There are some comments that have never been answered in the topics, so I'm wondering; is this still EV+?