Rapier 12 - The Return!

Am I forsaken?

Hi there,

No, you are not forsaken, things are going quite slow in this forum, to allow you to make your own progress at your own pace.

If you change the poker room, make sure you link your new account as well. You can have as many poker rooms being traced by PS as you want. It's not done automatically, but you simply need to type your username at PartyPoker in the appropriate line.

Regarding your hand:

Flop: I don't really like slowplaying out of position, also I doubt that MP1 will always cbet here 4-handed To be honest, he will very rarely cbet here, and we'll just waste one street with no money put in the pot.

Turn: we need to bet. He either has a good heart and is willing to call, or he doesn't and he won't invest any money in the hand again. We want to make the pot big. Also, just imagine for a second that on the river Th or 6h shows up. Although it's unlikely, but it will make the hand more difficult for you. Again, don't slowplay out of position (you see why on the turn).

River: you should have folded. People at NL2 just don't bluff their stacks in such situations.

PS: By the way, it's a good idea to post your hands in the hand evaluation forum. The judges will help you just as readily, and often much faster than your coach in this thread. It can also happen to be the same person, so it doesn't really matter, just to keep things more organized and speed up the process.

Regards,

German

Originally posted by Rapier12
Hi all,

After a forced absence I have dusted off the proverbial poker gloves and am making a return to the game. I have decided to start again at week one and work through.

Hi there,

Welcome back and good luck with the course and at the tables.

What is your motivation for playing poker? I like the challenge. I enjoy problem solving and poker provides endless problems and no catch all solution. I would also like to get to a point where I could earn a little extra money a month as well.

What are your weaknesses when playing poker? I think my biggest weakness at the moment is knowing that I'm beat but still calling anyway to make sure. Quite often find myself saying "if he has **** I'm going to cry" 2 seconds later I'm crying!

And why do you think that is? Most of the time we make these calls because we don't give ourselves enough time to think about what the opponent can really have. At times it's also because we are tilted and we have no control over our emotions (and thus we make light calls/raises).

What does it mean to play tight aggressive? It means playing solid cards with position and then being the person that forces the other to make difficult and hopefully incorrect decisions. It also means knowing when to back off.

In my book tight aggressive means that the player is tight preflop (plays a stronger range) and aggressive postflop (bets/raises a lot with all his range).

Hopefully week 1 complete?

Week 1 complete ! Good work.

Did i play this like an idiot?

Known Players:
UTG3: $0.77 - 39 bb
MP1: $2.90 - 145 bb
MP2: $3.61 - 181 bb
MP3: $0.94 - 47 bb
CO: $2.00 - 100 bb
BU: $1.18 - 59 bb
SB: $1.80 - 90 bb
BB: $2.00 - 100 bb

0.01/0.02 No Limit Hold'em (8 Handed)
Hand recorder for this hand: PokerStrategy.com SideKick 1.0.51211.1

Preflop: Hero is SB with A♥, 5♥
Hero posts small blind ($0.01), BB posts big blind ($0.02), UTG3 calls, MP1 raises for $0.06, MP2 calls, 3 folds, Hero calls, BB folds, UTG3 calls

Flop: ($0.26 - 13 bb) 8♥, 7♥, 2♥ (4 Players)
Hero checks, 2 checks, MP2 bets $0.17, Hero calls, 2 folds

Turn: ($0.60 - 30 bb) 9♥ (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

River: ($0.60 - 30 bb) 9♠ (2 Players)
Hero bets $0.45, MP2 raises for $3.38, Hero calls, MP2 gets uncalled back ($1.81)

And finally, I'm thinking of moving from William Hill as has light traffic and very tight games to party poker. Will poker strategy automatically pick this up?

Thanks

Raps.

As German mentioned if you post your hands in the evaluation board they will be answered by both judges and other players.

In this particular hand what do we know about villain as this is somewhat dependent on how they play. If he is unknown what hand do you expect to bet flop, ck turn (on 4th flush card) and overbet shove river on paired board?

Unless he is bluffing I can't see a single hand that we beat.

Good job so far and make sure to keep us posted on how it goes.

See you in the evaluation forums.

Hey, thank you for the replies I trust you all had a good holiday period.

Well I am 7.5k hands in, and showing a $30 profit and have started playing the odd good NL4 table when I see one. Hopefully this will continue.

Week 2 homework

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

I have started to try and add blind stealing and isolation to my starting hands and will look to raise if I can see an oppotunity. I'm still a little new at this, so do like to have something to fall back on should they call. I'm also calling a little more in multiway pots with suited connectors, when I'm in position and there have been a number of callers afer the orginal raiser.

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

These kinds of hands are causing me the most problems

Known Players:
UTG2: £1.32 - 33 bb
UTG3: £5.65 - 141 bb
MP1: £4.90 - 123 bb
MP2: £0.78 - 20 bb
MP3: £5.23 - 131 bb
CO: £1.57 - 39 bb
BU: £3.91 - 98 bb
SB: £4.80 - 120 bb
BB: £5.00 - 125 bb

0.02/0.04 No Limit Hold'em (9 Handed)
Hand recorder for this hand: PokerStrategy.com SideKick 1.0.51227.1

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4♦, 3♦
Hero posts small blind (£0.02), BB posts big blind (£0.04), 3 folds, MP2 calls, 2 folds, BU calls, Hero calls, BB checks

Flop: (£0.16 - 4 bb) J♣, 4♣, 3♥ (4 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP2 bets £0.04, BU folds, Hero raises for £0.16, BB folds, MP2 3-bets £0.24, Hero calls

Turn: (£0.72 - 18 bb) 7♦ (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets £0.46, Hero calls

River: (£1.64 - 41 bb) 8♣ (2 Players)

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

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
UTG+1  53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Hopefully on to week 3!

Rapier

Originally posted by Rapier12
Hey, thank you for the replies I trust you all had a good holiday period.

Well I am 7.5k hands in, and showing a $30 profit and have started playing the odd good NL4 table when I see one. Hopefully this will continue.

Happy New Year !

Glad to hear you are doing well at the beginning.

Week 2 homework

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

I have started to try and add blind stealing and isolation to my starting hands and will look to raise if I can see an oppotunity. I'm still a little new at this, so do like to have something to fall back on should they call. I'm also calling a little more in multiway pots with suited connectors, when I'm in position and there have been a number of callers afer the orginal raiser.

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

These kinds of hands are causing me the most problems

Known Players:
UTG2: £1.32 - 33 bb
UTG3: £5.65 - 141 bb
MP1: £4.90 - 123 bb
MP2: £0.78 - 20 bb
MP3: £5.23 - 131 bb
CO: £1.57 - 39 bb
BU: £3.91 - 98 bb
SB: £4.80 - 120 bb
BB: £5.00 - 125 bb

0.02/0.04 No Limit Hold'em (9 Handed)
Hand recorder for this hand: PokerStrategy.com SideKick 1.0.51227.1

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4♦, 3♦
Hero posts small blind (£0.02), BB posts big blind (£0.04), 3 folds, MP2 calls, 2 folds, BU calls, Hero calls, BB checks

Flop: (£0.16 - 4 bb) J♣, 4♣, 3♥ (4 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP2 bets £0.04, BU folds, Hero raises for £0.16, BB folds, MP2 3-bets £0.24, Hero calls

Turn: (£0.72 - 18 bb) 7♦ (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets £0.46, Hero calls

River: (£1.64 - 41 bb) 8♣ (2 Players)

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

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
UTG+1  53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Hopefully on to week 3!

Rapier

Regarding your hand:

Generally speaking in limped pots you don't want to invest a ton of money without a really strong hand.

So if the opponent was unknown and a full stack we could even fold the flop or turn.

Considering he is very short (20 BB) We can even shove the flop or call and call any turn.

Remember that in poker you want to adjust your game based on the information you receive from your opponents. That information could be in the form of a timing tell, stats, stack size, showdown you saw, etc.

And based on the above we can deviate from the standard (and one standard would be the starting hand chart).

Homework 2 done, congrats

Best of luck at the tables.

Hey all,

Here is the week 3 homework, has taken me a little longer to get it done. At the tables I seemed to have slowed down somewhat. I am routinely playing 4NL but seem to be breaking even at the moment.

Question 1: You are holding KQ. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 33?

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    50.78%  50.40%   0.38% { KsQs }
UTG+1  49.22%  48.84%   0.38% { 3d3c }

How does the equity change on this flop: J53?

Board: 5♦J♠3♠
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    26.46%  26.46%   0.00% { KsQs }
UTG+1  73.54%  73.54%   0.00% { 3d3c }

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand?

Ok - I would fold in this spot. The pot odds are approx 4:1 and on the face of it you are getting the required odds to call. However the turn card may have helped him in a number of ways and I would be forced to discount the 6c and 3c giving me 7 clean outs.

Overall I tend to be a cautious player and I would be looking at the worst case scenario and my thoughts are like this. 1, I dont think he is bluffing. 2, How has the 5c helped him - did he make his straight? 3, Given his range for raising is likely to be 2 pair, 3 of a kind, a straight or semi bluff with diamonds or less likely clubs. I would rule out an overpair as I would have expected more aggression preflop or on the flop.

So with no further informaton - its a fold for me. If I knew a little more about the player, chance of ( semi) bluffing I dont think a call is beyond me as the bluff percentage could move the implied odds back in my favour.

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

Have posted a couple of hands in the forum - unfortuantely dont know how to link them to here.

Hopefully homework 3 complete.

Thanks

Rapier

Originally posted by Rapier12
Hey all,

Here is the week 3 homework, has taken me a little longer to get it done. At the tables I seemed to have slowed down somewhat. I am routinely playing 4NL but seem to be breaking even at the moment.

Question 1: You are holding KQ. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 33?

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    50.78%  50.40%   0.38% { KsQs }
UTG+1  49.22%  48.84%   0.38% { 3d3c }

How does the equity change on this flop: J53?

Board: 5♦J♠3♠
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    26.46%  26.46%   0.00% { KsQs }
UTG+1  73.54%  73.54%   0.00% { 3d3c }

Did you expect those numbers, in both situations?

Would you be able to estimate these equities while playing?

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand?

Ok - I would fold in this spot. The pot odds are approx 4:1 and on the face of it you are getting the required odds to call. However the turn card may have helped him in a number of ways and I would be forced to discount the 6c and 3c giving me 7 clean outs.

Overall I tend to be a cautious player and I would be looking at the worst case scenario and my thoughts are like this. 1, I dont think he is bluffing. 2, How has the 5c helped him - did he make his straight? 3, Given his range for raising is likely to be 2 pair, 3 of a kind, a straight or semi bluff with diamonds or less likely clubs. I would rule out an overpair as I would have expected more aggression preflop or on the flop.

So with no further informaton - its a fold for me. If I knew a little more about the player, chance of ( semi) bluffing I dont think a call is beyond me as the bluff percentage could move the implied odds back in my favour.

Do you think that this player will slowplay the flop often?

How about our implied odds versus his stronger hands (like straights, 2p, sets) ? Do you think we have any?

Generally speaking we are getting the odds to call and then we have quite a few implied odds with our hidden (backdoor) draw.

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

Have posted a couple of hands in the forum - unfortuantely dont know how to link them to here.

Hopefully homework 3 complete.

Thanks

Rapier

You can link the hands by simply copying the URL of the hand and posting it here.

And you are correct, homework 3 is complete

Good luck at the tables.