jleonra

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck jleonra,

Really interesting read mate, I see you really enjoy poker but lets now make it even more enjoyable.

Hopefully you will enjoy around here. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, we will be around for you. Meanwhile good luck on tables, we will be waiting for your homework.

You can now start with your 1st Lesson:
Lesson #1

The whole course plan:
Overview of Beginners Course

Best Regards.

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

I like to play poker because it is really fun game, originally i used to play just as a hoby and for play money, but after watching some videos of poker pros, i decided to take a more serious aproach, and now i'm decided to be a winning poker player.

Also it'd be really cool to be able to make a living playing the game you like, and finally tell to my boss and co-workers :" Screw you guys, I'm going home"

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?
Well after some sessions i think this are the most common leaks i think i have:

-I'm way to passive, if i don't hit the flop most of the time i just check/fold if i raised preflop i'll c-bet but if i get called or 3beted i'll just give up, maybe if the flop gets checked to me and im the last to act i'll bet hoping the others just fold.

-I really don't think beforhand how will i play my hand, i usually just react to what other people do and the cards on the board.

-In fixed limit i think i go to showdown way to much, or play way to many hands if the price to see another card is good. I think in the long run this strategy has cost me more money than win it.

-i give too much credit to other players, i usually don't pay attention to the betting pattern and can't figure out the hand range of my oponent, so i usually try to bet the minimum or just check/call until showdown if i have a good hand but draws are possibly completed.

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

It means to wait for good starting hands to play, even if it means i'll fold a lot of the times the cards i get dealt, but when i get a good hand to play, i play it aggresively betting and raising, rarely just calling.

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.

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

The chart sais AQs to ATo whe should always fold'em in early positions, when someone calls in middle positions and in any position to a raise. Isn't AQs or AJs strong enough to play ?

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

Hand posted for evaluation

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

UTG AKo have a 46.31% equity vs UTG+1 with top 5% of range which have a 53.69% of equity.

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

The chart sais AQs to ATo whe should always fold'em in early positions, when someone calls in middle positions and in any position to a raise. Isn't AQs or AJs strong enough to play ?

Depends a lot how good you are postflop, what kind of stacks you have behind you, what kind of opponents you have behind you. A lot of factors. Chart just takes the safest play and where you more likely will be in position with your hand.

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.

Question 0: Download and install the Equilab.

Done

Question 1: You are holding KQ. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 33? How does the equity change on this flop: J53?

       Equity    Win   Tie
UTG    48.75%  48.36%   0.39% { KQs, KQo }
UTG+1  51.25%  50.86%   0.39% { 33 }

After flop:

Mesa: J♥5♣3♠
       Equity    Win   Tie
UTG     3.72%   3.72%   0.00% { KQs, KQo }
UTG+1  96.28%  96.28%   0.00% { 33 }

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...?

On the turn the pot is $0.25 after our bet ($0.22) and the raise ($0.44) of the BU the pot is $0.91 and we have to call $0.22 to see the river, giving us pot odds of almost 4:1, now we have a flush and a gutshot draw which give us 12 outs to improve our hand on the river, now 12 outs in favor and 34 against, so we have odds of 34:12 aprox 3:1, since the pot odds are bigger than the odds of improving our hand we should call.

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

Hand on evaluation forum

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:c and also 3:c. 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!