RedRawStump

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck redrawstump,

You are a true poker-fan. But never forget also take care of your family as you said yourself of your baby girl. But I guess you are aware of that more than I am. Great to have you with us and hope you will enjoy the course.

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 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 see it as a hobby. Obviously I'm motivated by winning - either a big pot or a tournament but I buzz more from a good play than a lucky river card. Infact I've made a new rule to not be angry if I lose a hand to a suck out. If I replay it and it was good play then I'm trying to remain philosophical. This is easier said than done.

...and I want to win $1 million. That as well

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?

From my play so far I'd have to say attention span. I tend to play well for say 40mins or so then get bored and try to force a situation and lose on a dumb play.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive?
Having narow, position-dependent range of opening hands, which are played aggressively, entering the pot with a bet or raise rather than a call. This gives us the best chance of playing the pot in position, with few opponents and the best chance of connecting strongly with the community cards.

Good job! Homework #1 Done!

Seems like your problem is that you are looking for too much action. If you don't get the action then you just try to do something else whatever is not related to poker and of course boredom also what comes with it. But try to always remind yourself what you are doing on the table, you are there to win and get better. Right now the money might be really small but think of you playing with like $1000 buy-in on cash game, you would have the same habit as you right now have. So I would strongly recommend trying to get rid of it.

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.

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.

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?

Modify starting behaviour based on opponents in the table. If we're facing mostly rocks, then start to loosen up, as long as we are aware of what resistance means. If we face looser opponents then raise fewer but stronger hands. Although, we can widen out 3-betting range if facing loose open-raisers. Essentially, compare our starting hand strength against the opening ranges of our opponents.

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

er... I'm still getting to grips with how to post hands. On the limits I've been playing at I haven't really come across many difficult spots. Never call a raise OOP seems to be the rule of the day. That being said I did call off a cold 3-bet push all-in from late position with QQ. He turned over KK. Obv. ♠_cry:

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

Equity Win Tie
BU 46.32% 37.92% 8.41% { AKo }
BB 53.68% 45.27% 8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

Against rocks we can often times play even more aggressively, especially preflop and steal a lot of hands from them. So seems that you clearly have a good thought process already build and I hope we will be able to continue improving it.

The same of course applies for 3betting, if we face an opponent who likes to fold a lot to 3bets then why not just to abuse him?

How to post hands? Don't say that it's difficult to post hands? It's one of the most important thing whilst getting to know with poker, how else you going to learn if not by discussing about your 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.

Hey,
After some delay, here is homework #3!

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?

Pre-flop equity:

       Equity     Win     Tie
BU     50.78%  50.40%   0.38% { KsQs }
SB     49.22%  48.84%   0.38% { 3d3c }

Post-flop equity:

Board: J♠5♦3♠
       Equity     Win     Tie
BU     26.46%  26.46%   0.00% { KsQs }
SB     73.54%  73.54%   0.00% { 3d3c }

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand? (Remember that it is important to explain your reasons, simply posting "Fold" or "Call" isn't enough!)

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...?

Answer: Based on pot odds we need 39% equity in order to make a call here. Vs. 2 other opponents I would expect a bet on the flop for value/protection from a made hand. So I assume BU is either bluffing or the 5 gave him a strong hand or a combo-draw. I've worked out a range based on a really wide button range (BB is short hence may be a poor player BU wants a pot with IP).

Board: 2♣6♦3♦ 5♣
       Equity     Win     Tie
BU     35.33%  32.33%   3.00% { AcJc }
SB     64.67%  61.66%   3.00% { JJ-77, 55-44, 22, 65s, AdKd, AdQd, KdQd, AdJd, KdJd, AdTd, KdTd, Ad9d, 8d7d, 8c7c, Ad5d, Ad4d, Ad3d }

Unsure if this is realistic but these are the hands I think fit the action (I included 1 flopped set for a slow-play). So we only get 32% against this range for a win. But if we do have a hit & villian is not bluffing then the implied odds probably make it worth a call. A shove would be -EV I think.

So I'd call.

Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play?

...done!
https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/search.php?searchid=607379
Nl2 77

Originally posted by redrawstump
Hey,
After some delay, here is homework #3!

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?

Pre-flop equity:

       Equity     Win     Tie
BU     50.78%  50.40%   0.38% { KsQs }
SB     49.22%  48.84%   0.38% { 3d3c }

Post-flop equity:

Board: J♠5♦3♠
       Equity     Win     Tie
BU     26.46%  26.46%   0.00% { KsQs }
SB     73.54%  73.54%   0.00% { 3d3c }

Looks good.

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand? (Remember that it is important to explain your reasons, simply posting "Fold" or "Call" isn't enough!)

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...?

Answer: Based on pot odds we need 39% equity in order to make a call here. Vs. 2 other opponents I would expect a bet on the flop for value/protection from a made hand. So I assume BU is either bluffing or the 5 gave him a strong hand or a combo-draw. I've worked out a range based on a really wide button range (BB is short hence may be a poor player BU wants a pot with IP).

Board: 2♣6♦3♦ 5♣
       Equity     Win     Tie
BU     35.33%  32.33%   3.00% { AcJc }
SB     64.67%  61.66%   3.00% { JJ-77, 55-44, 22, 65s, AdKd, AdQd, KdQd, AdJd, KdJd, AdTd, KdTd, Ad9d, 8d7d, 8c7c, Ad5d, Ad4d, Ad3d }

Unsure if this is realistic but these are the hands I think fit the action (I included 1 flopped set for a slow-play). So we only get 32% against this range for a win. But if we do have a hit & villian is not bluffing then the implied odds probably make it worth a call. A shove would be -EV I think.

So I'd call.

Calling is fine here because we have a nut draw and since it's a backdoor flush villain will most likely pay off lighter (and thus our implied odds are better).

Since BU is last to act I wouldn't give him as many 77-JJ hands in his turn range because I'd expect him to bet at least some for value/protection on the flop.

Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play?

...done!
https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/search.php?searchid=607379
Nl2 77

Best of luck with the next homework and your poker game.

Don't forget to post hands for evaluation and join us for the weekly Sunday No-Limit Special [Beginner] ( http://www.pokerstrategy.com/coaching/176692/ )

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

Nl2 Aa#6

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

NL4 SH, facing donkbet on wet board

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?

we have 41.4% equity vs. this range. So we're in pretty good shape despite having K high vs. a made hand!

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

Nl2 Aa#6

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

NL4 SH, facing donkbet on wet board

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?

we have 41.4% equity vs. this range. So we're in pretty good shape despite having K high vs. a made hand!

Congrats,

Homework 4 is now complete !

Best of luck with the next one.

Best regards,

Bogdan

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

NL2 zoom AKo Preflop decision

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

Any reason to fold?

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 6Diamond , 7Diamond
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20) 3Diamond , 3Heart , TDiamond (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

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

What action would you take, and why?

I would raise/fold here to $4. We have a good made hand but another diamond on the river would A) kill our action vs. non-flushes and B) give any higher single diamond hand a better flush. So we should charge for this draw. If we get a shove then it's probably either a boat or a higher flush most of the time so we can still get away from the hand given our sizing. The fish in the BB could call our raise with plenty of worse hands. The tight/TAGgy SB would probably call pre- with a PP or high aces so we only lose to TT (and JJ if he doesn't 3-bet it pre-)and higher flushes. If SB calls a turn raise then folding to any reasonable sized (>1/2pot) would probably be the best option. If SB folds and BB calls we can probably value bet the river.

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 JHeart , JSpade
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU 3-bets to $1.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.30

Flop: ($2.75) 6Heart , 9Spade , TClub (2 players)
Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

Check/call flop, check/call non-A/K/Q turns, check/fold river (assuming bets on all 3 streets)
Why? Because we've been 3-bet by an active aggressive player on the button. His 3-betting range will be wide from this position. We can expect him to c-bet most of his range on this board. If we donk then he's gonna fold his air hands which is bad for us. Tx, overcards and pair+gutshot hands can all bet here and we'll extract value. His aggression suggests a second barrel may be likely. I think 3 barrels would probably represent a value hand and we don't beat enough of those imo (7s8s, AA, KK, QQ, 66, 99, TT). Raising the flop would only isolate vs. a range that beats us.

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

NL2 zoom AKo Preflop decision

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

Any reason to fold?

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 6Diamond , 7Diamond
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20) 3Diamond , 3Heart , TDiamond (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

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

What action would you take, and why?

I would raise/fold here to $4. We have a good made hand but another diamond on the river would A) kill our action vs. non-flushes and B) give any higher single diamond hand a better flush. So we should charge for this draw. If we get a shove then it's probably either a boat or a higher flush most of the time so we can still get away from the hand given our sizing. The fish in the BB could call our raise with plenty of worse hands. The tight/TAGgy SB would probably call pre- with a PP or high aces so we only lose to TT (and JJ if he doesn't 3-bet it pre-)and higher flushes. If SB calls a turn raise then folding to any reasonable sized (>1/2pot) would probably be the best option. If SB folds and BB calls we can probably value bet the river.

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 JHeart , JSpade
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU 3-bets to $1.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.30

Flop: ($2.75) 6Heart , 9Spade , TClub (2 players)
Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

Check/call flop, check/call non-A/K/Q turns, check/fold river (assuming bets on all 3 streets)
Why? Because we've been 3-bet by an active aggressive player on the button. His 3-betting range will be wide from this position. We can expect him to c-bet most of his range on this board. If we donk then he's gonna fold his air hands which is bad for us. Tx, overcards and pair+gutshot hands can all bet here and we'll extract value. His aggression suggests a second barrel may be likely. I think 3 barrels would probably represent a value hand and we don't beat enough of those imo (7s8s, AA, KK, QQ, 66, 99, TT). Raising the flop would only isolate vs. a range that beats us.

Homework 5 is now complete.

Congrats and keep up the good work.

How's your game going? How's the progress coming along?

Bogdan

Hey Bogdan,

As you may guess from the frequency of my replies/posts, it's going fairly slowly! I'm studying tons, reading loads of hand evaluations daily learning how to dissect a hand from the stats of villain and positions involved. I'm not really posting many hands for evaluation 'cos I'm usually able to find out where I went wrong from self-analysis. I'm playing NL2 zoom, 1 table. I don't get much time to play but have free time at work hence studying>playing.

Have just fixed my computer (so it goes much faster now) and gonna move up to 2x zoom tables. Any more and I feel like I'm not learning. Got poker tracker recently and I'm running at ~15BB/100 over 15k hands so I'm guessing I've got the basics right.

Q) Over what sort of sample do you have to measure to infer any trends to your game? (i.e. are you beating a level). According to my luck bell graph my straight frequency over 15k hands is between very and extremely unlucky which is making me think variance is still huge over this sample. And/or I'm unlucky

Oh, and just want to say a big thanks for your evaluations, they are ++much appreciated and I'm learning tons from your explanations on my hands and of others as well.

Cheers!

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have either a) freeplay, b) slowplay, or c) multi-way pot situation.

Nl2 Aa #2

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

nl10 sh TT OOP

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$25 NL Hold'em (10 handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
UTG+1 ($25) rock
UTG+2 ($25)
MP1 ($25)
MP2 ($25) LAG
MP3 ($25) maniac
CO ($25)
Hero BU ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25) calling station

Preflop: Hero is BU with QHeart , JHeart
5 folds, MP3 raises $1.00, CO calls $1.00, Hero calls $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.10) 3Heart , JClub , ADiamond (4 players)
BB checks, MP3 checks, CO checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4.10) QClub (4 players)
BB bets $2.05, 2 folds, Hero...?

What action would you take, and why?

I would raise to $5 and fold to a shove. Betting into 4 opponents suggests he has something. We beat draws and pair+draw hands, also Ax may call the raise. As he's loose and getting great price pre-flop then his range is gonna be super wide so it's better to take value from these hands than give out a free card by calling. We're def. not folding. If the river comes a brick we can call <=2/3 pot bet I think. I think a shove from a loose/passive is def. gonna beat out 2 pairs so it's a fold.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have played on a 6-max table (short-handed).

NL2 zoom TT.

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

NL10 6max K9s river 2nd nuts call

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB (Hero) ($10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5heart , 4heart
2 folds, CO raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) 3spade , 2Heart , Qheart (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.20, CO Raises All-in, BU calls All-in, SB folds, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

A) I would fold. The button cold calls pre-flop then calls the all-in from CO on the flop. This has to be a made hand. I doubt he calls 23o preflop and he probably 3bets KK+ pre so he can only have a set here (or a mis-played OESD). We have tons of outs but none to the nuts. CO could easily be semi-bluffing with a better flush which has us crushed. We need 26% equity to make the call. Using equilab:

       Equity     Win     Tie
CO     49.02%  48.07%   0.95% { QQ+, 33-22, AhKh, AhJh, AhTh, Ah9h, Ah8h, Ah7h, Ah6h, Ah3h }
BU     26.41%  25.46%   0.95% { 33-22, QdQh, QdQs, QdQc, JhTh }
SB     24.57%  24.24%   0.33% { 5h4h }

we don't have it, and that's before rake. If we take away the QQ from BU range and give CO fewer Ahxh FDs then we don't get much better so it's a fold.

Question 4: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO (Hero) ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Aclub , Kspade
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) Aspade , 4club , 4diamond (4 players)
SB checks, BB bets $1.20, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

A) I'm calling here. I think a raise is gonna fold out everything apart from AA and 4x so it's a bit of a WA/WB type scenario I think. By calling we keep in any Ax hands from the other players left to act. Any villain left to act who raises is repping 4x really so it's a fold w/o any reads that they're partic. aggro. 4-way with TPTK is not a mega-strong hand.

Good job Red,

Both Homework 6 and 7 are now complete.

As you may guess from the frequency of my replies/posts, it's going fairly slowly! I'm studying tons, reading loads of hand evaluations daily learning how to dissect a hand from the stats of villain and positions involved. I'm not really posting many hands for evaluation 'cos I'm usually able to find out where I went wrong from self-analysis. I'm playing NL2 zoom, 1 table. I don't get much time to play but have free time at work hence studying>playing.

That makes sense. You can also experiment with adding more tables (1 more at zoom, 1-2-3 at regular) when you feel at your best and are not tired.

Have just fixed my computer (so it goes much faster now) and gonna move up to 2x zoom tables. Any more and I feel like I'm not learning. Got poker tracker recently and I'm running at ~15BB/100 over 15k hands so I'm guessing I've got the basics right.

Q) Over what sort of sample do you have to measure to infer any trends to your game? (i.e. are you beating a level). According to my luck bell graph my straight frequency over 15k hands is between very and extremely unlucky which is making me think variance is still huge over this sample. And/or I'm unlucky sad

Oh, and just want to say a big thanks for your evaluations, they are ++much appreciated and I'm learning tons from your explanations on my hands and of others as well.

Unfortunately variance in the short term can/will affect your overall winrate a lot.

We can't really put a number but the more the better.

Even 50k hands can have a lot of variance present. It's more important to look at qualitative results rather than quantitative (like winrate over a small sample).

And you are welcome,

Keep up the great work.

Bogdan

You are very welcome