Xavier Fok Adventures

Originally posted by gAsheks
I tend to go sleep at like 3-5 at night and wake up 13;00-15;00 ♦ I guess thats no good. Haven't trained for like week already.

Weather is hot outside. Im super lazy I don't like super hot.

i guess im not going to comment on your timing, because i have days where i sleep at 6am, or at 3am or at 10pm, i dont know which is better. here its GMT +8, which means if i sleep at 6am i make more money because the best time to play poker in my country is around 12midnight to 6am, but then it messes up the day later. if i sleep at 10pm, i totally miss out on this timing. if i sleep at 3am, theni get half of this, but yet somewhat energetic still the next day.

the purpose of the training is to help keep mental focus =D

Originally posted by martinstids
sleep for pussiz

im a pussiz and i love pussiz ♠_biggrin: ♠_biggrin: ♠_biggrin:

Originally posted by AlvisR
Overview of your supplements:

Sunflowrer lecithin - use or not to use... i wouldnt spend money on this. Its function is so small that you wont feel any benefit even longterm
Gelatin - once again useless stuff as you get this kind of help to all written about this product from protein of foods. because from protein everything is built.
Green tea - good choice
pure krill oil - well this is waste of money compared to this - because all omega 3 are the same no matter from where it comes

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Omega-3-Fish-Oil-Concentrate-1000mg-365-Capsules-GRIP-SEAL-BAG-/281307443406?pt=UK_Health_Beauty_Vitamins_Supplements&hash=item417f3af0ce

kyoto kyoto - i have read supplement facts and undrestoot that there are only couple vitamins which you can take from multivitamins. Wouldnt buy either

Swanson Ultra Hydrolyzed Fish Collagen - nah... pass this away

Swanson EFAs Certified Organic Coconut Oil - hmm.. i dont believe one capsule a day will give you expected benefit, to inktake more than one becomes expensive to buy.

Swanson Premium Colostrum - yes good stuff, but it is enough to take good multivitamins

i would buy this http://www.controlledlabs.com/product_info.php?products_id=38 and intake daily 3 Tablets
+ my given fish oil link.

This is all you need.

Okay now about sleep:

Growth hormone (aka HGH) will now help to lose weight straight, but HGH helps to grow muscle, the more muscle the more energy you need and therefore body needs more food to get this energy, if theres no food it takes energy more often from bodyfats (this ir roughly explained)

Sleep 7-8 hours is good because we (humans) have 4 sleep periods which goes into 1 cycle (about 3,5-4 hours). In night we go thorough these cycles repeatedly, but only one period supercharges immune system and heals body where needed, other one is for dreaming when our eyes are moving rapidly - it is very easy to awake us (in this period our body is not resting but is very active and gets tired) 2 other periods are like preparation periods for other 2.

So basically we should have dream period only once a night otherwise we will wake up tired. and immune supercharge period happens only twice a night. if you sleep more than 9 hours you skip immune supercharge period and go straight to dreaming period where your body gets tired once again. So basically that is why we need to sleep 7-8 hours.

To improve sleep quality we need to make daily bodyclock - go sleep in the same time, wake up in the same time. Body will say thanks because he will know and remember when to boost melatonin levels (this hormone is supposed for sleeping and depends from how much light went thorough our eyes in day - less light, less melatonin levels, harder to get to sleep). But in this hectic lifestyle it is hard to rach unfortunately.

Tried to explain so you understand but i think it will be hard, because about sleep there needs to be read whole book to understand properly.

firstly thanks for the review!!!

1. green tea - why good choice? im guessing increase in metabolism rate and maybe cleaning up the body of toxins?

2. krill oil - u said no, but i saw something like krill is different? or maybe i should just take any kind of fish oil since they are all the same?

3. kyoto kyoto - i used to take a different brand called sun cholera when im sick/drunk etc and my friends have taken it too, although not this brand, seems to work wonders really. and this brand seems to be much better at like 30-40% of the price? its been like 10 years i have been taking green algae

4. colostrum - i bought a few of this, what kind of multi vits are u talking about?

what is the purpose behind your choice of products? body building? physical health? mental health?

response to sleep ----------

oh yea i just heard about this HGH thing, apparently this might be whats helping me to lose weight.

i thought one cycle is around 90 minutes? i believe the cycle u are talking about that supercharges is something like the deepest REM sleep or something. apparently there is this sleep timing calculator to wake yourself up during the lighter sleep cycles instead of the deeper ones. >>> http://sleepyti.me/

maybe because i sleep too much and dream too much which is why im getting like 10 hours of sleep and still insufficient? yea i think the routine thing is important, but when im sleeping its daylight in my country it kind of messes up the melatonin release since its light sensitive?

and thanks for sharing again

just some quick updates

1. sleep routines kind of messed up, sleeping all over the place without a routine, i think sleeping at 3am time is the best since i make use of the poker traffic while still getting enough sleep, kind of a balance

2. started on some internet affilaite marketing. supposedly i buy ads and then make the banners to sell some products. the simplest example will be xhamster porn site, and then i have an ad there to sell maybe some cream or sex toy or porn membership, obviously my level is like 1000x lower but i think everyone understands this example the best.

3. made out a more serious coaching deal (was already doing it before but not as serious), and will get everyone on contracts with some proper material. the materials were already there but not "beautiful" or professional enough and was a little messy.

4. took one or 2 coaching sessions and learnt very interesting stuff, like sometimes how folding a monster draw against a big raise is better than going AI or calling because its more -EV to call or AI while folding is 0 because we have low FE. and i also realised that their sort of "unspoken" rules which i picked up, was to play on the softer tables. this was obvious to me because i played on the not so soft ones and this was a big positive change to my win rates.

Originally posted by cutegoldfish
maybe because i sleep too much and dream too much which is why im getting like 10 hours of sleep and still insufficient? yea i think the routine thing is important, but when im sleeping its daylight in my country it kind of messes up the melatonin release since its light sensitive?

hey cgf, just read this post (haven't read too far before this, sorry) and i just wanted to ask if you're sleeping during the day and awake through the night? if so then the reason why you're probably not getting refreshed is because you are sleeping through when your circadian rhythm is at its highest point and waking at its lowest. i don't know how much you know about that but your circadian rhythm is your internal clock and you seem to be screwing with it ♦

if it's because of poker then who am i to argue against that.. but you play on stars, traffic is fine 24/7, no? your sleep pattern sounds like it isn't doing you any favours and it could probably be making you play worse than if you slept normally. who knows. you should try skipping a sleep and then sleeping the next night and set your alarm if you want to fix it.

and you're right about one cycle of sleep being ~90 mins, each with a ~15min REM phase where you dream (although there is also some evidence for occasional dreaming in non-REM sleep). as you get older the number of REM phases you experience will decrease - babies have the largest number, so there is some implications that REM sleep is important for cognitive development - get as much as possible (not 1 per night).

Originally posted by DrDunne

Originally posted by cutegoldfish
maybe because i sleep too much and dream too much which is why im getting like 10 hours of sleep and still insufficient? yea i think the routine thing is important, but when im sleeping its daylight in my country it kind of messes up the melatonin release since its light sensitive?

hey cgf, just read this post (haven't read too far before this, sorry) and i just wanted to ask if you're sleeping during the day and awake through the night? if so then the reason why you're probably not getting refreshed is because you are sleeping through when your circadian rhythm is at its highest point and waking at its lowest. i don't know how much you know about that but your circadian rhythm is your internal clock and you seem to be screwing with it ♦

if it's because of poker then who am i to argue against that.. but you play on stars, traffic is fine 24/7, no? your sleep pattern sounds like it isn't doing you any favours and it could probably be making you play worse than if you slept normally. who knows. you should try skipping a sleep and then sleeping the next night and set your alarm if you want to fix it.

and you're right about one cycle of sleep being ~90 mins, each with a ~15min REM phase where you dream (although there is also some evidence for occasional dreaming in non-REM sleep). as you get older the number of REM phases you experience will decrease - babies have the largest number, so there is some implications that REM sleep is important for cognitive development - get as much as possible (not 1 per night).

thank you for the response. yes that is right i was sleeping through the day. im in the process of adjusting back to sleeping at night now. well i dont know too much but i know it screws up real badly

its not because of poker, and even if its because of poker i think the damage it causes to my mental health in terms of $$$ is much more than how much the softer and better traffic can bring me.

and yes i did skip some sleeps, not on purpose, just could not fall asleep and somehow it gets better rather than trying to force the sleep in.

i recall having less sleep somehow causes this REM thing which is very beneficial to happen more often and earlier? but again i love to sleep! but yet maybe its too much, im not sure how i can sleep less but yet feel recharged.

very difficult to say how much REM we have individually in any given night because to do that we probably have to monitor brain activity throughout the night. anecdotally, i know a few people who sleep at around 6am and they always end up sleeping between 10 and 12 hours regularly, and on top of that they never seem refreshed. i really think it's to do with sleeping when your body is not meant to sleep.

the problem with things like this is that there are a huge number of variables affecting sleep and we can never say with any certainty what causes someone to not feel refreshed. could be diet, could be physical activity, could be thyroid function, could be sleep apnea, could be dehydration, could be bad habit or it could be simply innate. or a combination, or none of those things and many of some other things.

i think modern culture seems to ignore the fact that when we are tired our bodies are telling us that we should sleep. instead we set alarms to get up for work and stuff when really it isn't so good. i say just sleep as much as you feel you need to.

[edit] regarding the function of REM sleep, i'm pretty sure it is debatable depending on what research you read or who you speak to. generally people just don't know for sure. there is evidence that REM sleep is important for procedural learning (i.e. necessary for the consolidation of memory for physical activity) whereas non-REM sleep is important for information about the world and your experiences in your day-to-day life. that's about as much as i remember now actually, but it's damn interesting so maybe i'll read more about it.

just finished a coaching session, and here is what i learnt

1. up against an opponent 3way hes 40/25/23 fold to 3bet is 30 (200 hands collected on him were on 6max). we have seen him
or/4bet/jam 110bb KQs MP vs BU
3bet Q9o CO vs MP fish that minR
3bet 3way A8o BB vs BU

BU opens, villain 3bets and we are on the BB to act -

the appropriate adjustment here is to expand 4bet value range by close to 100%, from the standard QQ+ AK to include JJ+ AQ maybe TT?

and shrink 4betbluff range since hes not folding we have no fold equity

2. many marginal hands in the BB which are argued to be called, should be folded at lower stakes. for example 89o should be a fold on BB vs BU 2.5x raise although the workings show this is a call, why?

a. the workings assume an optimal opponent, however many issues on the lower stakes are not optimal which all reduces our likelihood to win the hand for example
- higher than usual CB on the flop, the calculation assumes something like a 65% CB but the actual CB we face is more like 75% leading to a lower chance of realising our equity, which means we should defend a tighter range
- our own post flop skills are weaker, which means we realise less of our equity post flop, we probably fold too much or call too much, so this means we defend tighter pre flop
- our value hands get more value from opponents because they play poorly, which means opponents get less value from their poor holdings due to their poor post flop play against our strong range so we do not need to defend so wide and do not need to worry about them auto profiting because we now make more with the hands we call than the calculated example.
- rake is more significant in lower limits which reduce the pot we win which means we defend tighter

which means when we calculate a range to defend and it ends up like 50% on the BB, we probably do fine with maybe 1/3 lesser like 30-35%?

3. we were discussing stats of some higher stakes professionals and the consensus was that their real edge comes from post flop skills. and the hands at the margin only adds to the win rates a little and they are able to defend wider because their skill is better. the same marginal hands played by us with less skill might actually lead to a loss.

the real difference between a 22/17 player and a 27/20 player is not much since the hands at the margin add only a very small value, which when we play might lead to a loss, so playing tighter is absolutely OK

Originally posted by DrDunne
very difficult to say how much REM we have individually in any given night because to do that we probably have to monitor brain activity throughout the night. anecdotally, i know a few people who sleep at around 6am and they always end up sleeping between 10 and 12 hours regularly, and on top of that they never seem refreshed. i really think it's to do with sleeping when your body is not meant to sleep.

the problem with things like this is that there are a huge number of variables affecting sleep and we can never say with any certainty what causes someone to not feel refreshed. could be diet, could be physical activity, could be thyroid function, could be sleep apnea, could be dehydration, could be bad habit or it could be simply innate. or a combination, or none of those things and many of some other things.

i think modern culture seems to ignore the fact that when we are tired our bodies are telling us that we should sleep. instead we set alarms to get up for work and stuff when really it isn't so good. i say just sleep as much as you feel you need to.

[edit] regarding the function of REM sleep, i'm pretty sure it is debatable depending on what research you read or who you speak to. generally people just don't know for sure. there is evidence that REM sleep is important for procedural learning (i.e. necessary for the consolidation of memory for physical activity) whereas non-REM sleep is important for information about the world and your experiences in your day-to-day life. that's about as much as i remember now actually, but it's damn interesting so maybe i'll read more about it.

ahhh maybe sleeping at 6am is a bad idea, should sleep earlier maybe 2-3am =D

i always make sure i sleep enough, but sometimes that means 10 hours =X

thats why i write down whatever i learnt so that in case it does not go in today, ill read it again tommorow and try again.

Yesterday I was challenged by a fish to Hu and gladly accepted.

During the first phase I was up 12 stacks on him, then I made a few errors and lost it all.

Firstly I don't usually play hu. We were just playing 1 table and he later requested to increase to 2 and then to 3. Due to my lack of experience in hu I should have stuck to one or 2, and not 3. Worse still I was playing 4-5 6max tables that took my attention away. Heads up table action was too fast for me to suddenly adjust to. I estimate the action on hu to be maybe 4-5 times faster than that of 6max.

At first he was 3betting wide and large. When I raised to 3x he 3betted with a 40-50% range to 12x and I folded very frequently. Thinking back I should have defended at least a 30% range, so hands like JTo any ace K9+ should have been defends and I should have thrown in a couple of 4bet  bluffs which I did not.

On the flop he's also cb 90% of the time. And I should have check raised wider, because he was folding frequently to check raises.

When he 3betted and cb on the flop I should have raised his cb somewhere around 15-20% of the time and float around 30% of the time. He double barrels frequently so I should have jammed in turn around 40% of the time with over cards A high and any pair any draw. My mistake was to fold too much to him.

I also noticed he check raises tp gk on the flop, I used gto to call him down which means my range is generally weaker. I should have folded tp since it was always dominated, and maybe raised 2nd pair as a bluff. He is pretty tight when going in on the flop.

At first he bluffed on rivers and I bluff caught him 2-3 times and then he adjusted to only value betting which I realized a little too late. And most of my bets he always folded. I assumed he would call too wide but this was a mistake right from the start so I lost value from many hands. Later in the game I started bluffing at him wider since I knew he was folding 2nd pairs which he should be calling.

He also floats flop a lot , something I realized later in the game, most of the time I bet and give up the turn assuming everyone on nl50 is the same but apparently that's not the case here. He folds to double barrels close to 80% of the time.

just some quick learning points over the past week

1. according to josh waitzkin book, the professionals focus very in depth on their basics. a quick look at my coaches stats (without his results) might cause u to think hes not playing optimally, low call in the BB when everyone is talking about calling more, folding a little too much to 3bets, something like 65% when we thought it should be 55%. and then u see his results 10bb/100 with 40k for the month.

now is it the other people who misunderstood the concept? or was it him who got lucky? now that i have the same win rate, and so does those that i'm coaching, i think he got the concepts right, however they are so simple people will not believe it. find a fish, and sit to his left. yep thats it >>> FIND A FISH AND SIT TO HIS LEFT. unfortunately everyone is looking for that secret to 3bet and defend or to raise a flop CB. its just not where we are looking.

2. Listen to the master. ill assume here the master is competent, although its hard to find one. and when u found one, listen to him and do the moves he tell u to. obviously at a start u may not understand because its something new, seek to understand, practice that simple move over and over again.

3. the body is like a...machine? it rusts/spoils over time and requires regular maintenance. this is a fact many people including myself find it difficult to accept. i prefer thinking im superhuman and can do 10001 things at the same time and succeed. however when i accepted this fact, i began to focus on one thing at a time, and surprisingly so many areas of my life improved, because at the end of the month soo many things would have been worked on in this plan. and i go to the gym regularly, not because i want to have strong muscles, but because i recognize that failure to do so affects my mental strength/focus.

4. marketing took on a different meaning for me. i used to like to promote myself, im a ego maniac. somehow that did not work out, people thought i was a d**, which i was and still am. i changed my methods "Accidentally" in search of improvement and somehow along the way i helped some people. and somehow people would come looking for me. this was the dream i wanted, people coming to look for me for whatever, but then when i was working to DELIVER VALUE to them, they came on their own, kind of passive "marketing". i think the best way to market yourself, is to deliver tremendous value to everyone in the area of your expertise. somehow the value will come back.

ill work on some of the basics again which i already know, but i think this is the key to becoming better, so here are some things i re-learnt

1. BU should open any2 if SB and BB folds more than 58%. if we get called our hand is hard to win post flop, but we should still raise because they are folding enough for us to auto profit. meaning if we fold everytime we get called or 3bet unless we hit trips or better, we still make $$$

2. SB is difficult to defend with a call, because
a. pot odds are poor (worse than BB by 8% out of 30%)
b. BB is incentivised to call making us oop in a 3way pot
c. BB would squeeze around 10% of the time taking us off our hand
d. professionals will know what we have because our range is very well defined.

therefore we should have a 3bet only range SB vs BU. this can be found in sean leforts video from RIO

however there are exceptions, SB should be flat if BB is a weak player. remember that most of the $$$ in poker is from weaker players. so all the above disadvantages are countered by BB being a weak player.

lets go through the siutation. the weak player is unlikely to 3bet, which means if he does 3bet we have a easy fold. in this case point c is not such a big disadvantage for us. in point b, BB calls a very wide range, and that range is probably behind us and we get alot of extra value when we hit a hand and he calls our bets. this is where the main value comes about. so now point b instead of a disadvantage, becomes an advantage, because we WANT him to call with a very wide range.

recently got very demotivated, this happens pretty regularly especially after i made enough money to pay the bills.

i have been wondering why i have this problem? maybe its because i dont really have an ambition, i tried lying to myself that i wanted this car, this house, but in fact all i wanted was very simple, just to spend time with my loved ones.

then i took a look at what really motivates me, what so far has helped me to really achieve success in life, and i can recall a few situations

1. somewhere in 2005 my mum got diagnosed with cancer, i was only 15 i did not know what to do, but i knew she always wanted me to study hard and get good grades. i dont understand at that point in time what it means but anyway i used this adversity to my advantage and topped the entire level in all 3 sciences. i don't think i could have done it on my own.

2. somewhere in 2008 my girlfriend at that time failed her exams. of course now we know it does not mean much, but at that point in time it was game over. so i worked really hard to help her to develop her studying skills and she won some award and her grades improved

3. sometime in 2014 april my insurance premiums were due and i lost my job as an insurance salesman. the insurance were for my parents and i had to keep it at all costs. i played a tonne of poker and made enough, no motivation issues at all.

so i think it will be helpful to make a picture of whatever my loved ones want, and then look at them when i feel demotivated (which happens very frequently) to give me that extra energy to move one more step.

everytime i try to focus on a car or a house i want, i just end up sleeping and doing nothing, maybe because i never really want a house or a car. those are just things OTHER people wanted and i thought i wanted it, but i did not.

Originally posted by cutegoldfish
recently got very demotivated, this happens pretty regularly especially after i made enough money to pay the bills.

i have been wondering why i have this problem? maybe its because i dont really have an ambition, i tried lying to myself that i wanted this car, this house, but in fact all i wanted was very simple, just to spend time with my loved ones.

then i took a look at what really motivates me, what so far has helped me to really achieve success in life, and i can recall a few situations

1. somewhere in 2005 my mum got diagnosed with cancer, i was only 15 i did not know what to do, but i knew she always wanted me to study hard and get good grades. i dont understand at that point in time what it means but anyway i used this adversity to my advantage and topped the entire level in all 3 sciences. i don't think i could have done it on my own.

2. somewhere in 2008 my girlfriend at that time failed her exams. of course now we know it does not mean much, but at that point in time it was game over. so i worked really hard to help her to develop her studying skills and she won some award and her grades improved

3. sometime in 2014 april my insurance premiums were due and i lost my job as an insurance salesman. the insurance were for my parents and i had to keep it at all costs. i played a tonne of poker and made enough, no motivation issues at all.

so i think it will be helpful to make a picture of whatever my loved ones want, and then look at them when i feel demotivated (which happens very frequently) to give me that extra energy to move one more step.

everytime i try to focus on a car or a house i want, i just end up sleeping and doing nothing, maybe because i never really want a house or a car. those are just things OTHER people wanted and i thought i wanted it, but i did not.

can relate A LOT, interesting thoughts

Originally posted by Tomaloc

Originally posted by cutegoldfish
recently got very demotivated, this happens pretty regularly especially after i made enough money to pay the bills.

i have been wondering why i have this problem? maybe its because i dont really have an ambition, i tried lying to myself that i wanted this car, this house, but in fact all i wanted was very simple, just to spend time with my loved ones.

then i took a look at what really motivates me, what so far has helped me to really achieve success in life, and i can recall a few situations

1. somewhere in 2005 my mum got diagnosed with cancer, i was only 15 i did not know what to do, but i knew she always wanted me to study hard and get good grades. i dont understand at that point in time what it means but anyway i used this adversity to my advantage and topped the entire level in all 3 sciences. i don't think i could have done it on my own.

2. somewhere in 2008 my girlfriend at that time failed her exams. of course now we know it does not mean much, but at that point in time it was game over. so i worked really hard to help her to develop her studying skills and she won some award and her grades improved

3. sometime in 2014 april my insurance premiums were due and i lost my job as an insurance salesman. the insurance were for my parents and i had to keep it at all costs. i played a tonne of poker and made enough, no motivation issues at all.

so i think it will be helpful to make a picture of whatever my loved ones want, and then look at them when i feel demotivated (which happens very frequently) to give me that extra energy to move one more step.

everytime i try to focus on a car or a house i want, i just end up sleeping and doing nothing, maybe because i never really want a house or a car. those are just things OTHER people wanted and i thought i wanted it, but i did not.

can relate A LOT, interesting thoughts

thank you

just took a one to one coaching session, its fantastic!!!

here are some learning points, its golden, i always had these questions in mind and somehow they did not get answered satisfactorily, and today they have

ill illustrate the concepts through some hand examples

A :spade:5 i raise to 3bb in the SB and BB calls. BB is a fish with 27 hands with 50/0.

flop comes 2 :club:7 :spade:J :spade:, barreling is ok here, check calling is fine too but we probably get more value from barelling and folding out his equity or maybe he calls with some worse overcards.

turn brings the 8 :diamond:. this card connects very well with his range, our fold equity is very much reduced here, and check/calling is better than betting. chances are he checks back pretty often and sometimes we hit or we check it down and win with A high, and if he bets which does not happen so often, we can call because against a fish our implied odds are very much higher allowing us to call a wider drawing range. the plan on the river if we hit is to donk out for value since the mistake the fish does is calling too wide.

river brings the T :heart:. on this connected board our best move is to check against the fish. why? because hes calling Jx here maybe even Tx here. (i tried barreling and got called down by these hands). and at the same time value bet wider, of course we are betting the straights, we are also betting sets, top 2 JT J8 for value which we otherwise would not bet against a reg.

take note this same hand makes a good bluff against a reg because our betting range is strong, and we would have bet thrice against a reg.

lesson learnt
against a fish we have high implied odds meaning a wider calling to draw range
against a fish we have low fold equity, so our bluff range reduces significantly.

CO unknown raises to 3bb, BU folds, hero is on the SB with AQo, and we have a 50/10 fish in the BB, what shall we do here?

3betting vs calling

3betting is fine, we get folds often but then this hand is good enough to play flops and turns

calling is better because the big value from poker comes from value betting against a fish when we hit something. the fish in the BB greatly changes this spot into a call.

what if there is no fish in the BB? then it depends on CO stats, so ill state 2 extreme examples where we should 3bet or should call.

1. CO is opening 30%+ and vs 3bet hes folding less than 50%. against this CO we should 3bet because we dominate his calling range. in fact we should have a merged value range and also 3bet hands like KJo ATo KTs because hes calling too wide. the mistake this opponent is making is calling to wide and we should exploit that by 3betting a range of hands that dominate his calling range and then bet for value all streets. maybe ATo is too wide but we should 3bet AJo. larger value3bet range here.

at the same time against this opponent, we should reduce our bluff range, because our fold equity has dropped and our bluff range depends on our fold equity. especially if hes also floating flops and turns alot. so for the sake of this discussion lets say he folds to CB 30%, then we should NOT 3bet PF hands like A9s-A2s (we will 3bet this in the later example) as bluffs because hes going to call way too often and we will not have fold equity post flop.

we end up with a smaller 3bet range, with mostly value hands that are weaker than usual.

2. CO is opening 25% and vs 3bet hes folding 70%. this opponent is opening a tighter range and folding a little too much. with AQ we should call more often because with a 3bet we isolate against his stronger range, which we may or may not dominate, but with a call we play against his entire range. we have good fold equity against this opponent which means our 3bet range in the SB should have more bluffs, especially if he folds on the flop often enough something like >60% for the sake of this discussion.

which means against this opponent im 3betting A2-A9s, 67s-9Ts maybe K9s too, and this range of hands are NOT 3betted against the first opponent (with 30% CO open and <50% fold 2 3bet)

in this example our 3bet range here is somewhat balanced with around 40% value and 60% bluffs, maybe even 70% bluffs???

i open J :heart:9 BU and get calls from SB 71/14 over 15 hands and BB 37/30 over 43 hands.

flop comes Q :spade:J :club:4 :club:, SB and BB checks and its on me.

should i bet or check?

betting has little fold equity, but 3 way there is alot of equity i can take away. if this was heads up i can check and call turn and river as a bluffcatch but i cannot do it 3way, yet this hand is better than thrash so i cannot give up, so i should bet it.

how does my hand range change in a 3way and heads up situation? in a heads up situation hands like AJ QT could be bet 3 streets for value and hands like J9 chk back and bluff catch.

in a way situation, the j9 gets downgraded to be not good enough for a bluffcatch, and the same hand we use for bluffcatching HU increases in strength from J9o to QTo.

i bet and SB calls, 8 falls. this is a very easy check, there is little value, im ahead of draws, behind most made hands that called me.

turn SB chks i chk back

river is the 9 :heart:, and SB pots into me.

should i fold or call?

against a reg i think this is a easy call because there are not many T in a reg's range and hes not going to bet out pot size for value with his sets or 2p here.

but how about against a 71/14 fish? his potting range here is very strong and more than 90% of the time for value. of course we have the T in his range, but he could also pot for value slowplayed hands like QQ JJ maybe 88 99. and with J9o its too weak to call.

however we should consider that the fish SOMETIMES bluffs, so what shall we call other than the obvious straight? something like sets and top 2 QJ should be our bluff catching range. so our bluffcatching range here on the river is much tighter vs a fish compared to a reg.

SB is 20/16 reg with wide stealing ranges, estimated to be 50-60% in the SB, 50% in the BU and 30% in the CO.

SB raises and we call in the BB with A :club:T

flop comes A :heart:8 :club:K he bets and we call, pretty standard here

turn comes A he bets we call again, no reason to raise

river comes 9 and he jams in 1.5x pot, we have trip A ????

according to theory in order for him to be indifferent in jamming on the river, he needs something like a 50% bluff and 50% value range. however in practicality, hes more likely jamming in something like a 80-90% value range, which means we are always seeing full houses here and makes our apparently strong hand a fold. even AJ should be folding here, and maybe the worst bluffcatcher an AQ

i raise 6 :heart:7 from the BU and 48/25 SB fish calls and BB folds.

flop comes 5 :spade:6 :spade:K and SB donks 70% pot into me, what should i do?

SB has 40% donk over 12hands and 100% CB over 4 hands. i have 72 hands on him. this guy is likely to be overly aggressive and blindly barelling too often. the mistake hes making is betting too much, and i should exploit it by calling a wider range.

how about a raise? if i raise hes going to fold pretty often, suggested by his high fold to CB. so i should raise hands like 78 89 maybe AJ as a bluff. and call most made hands

so i call.

turn brings a 7 :diamond:. while the board appears to be drawy, remember that his high donking frequency means that he does not have that many draws in his range, and the main value we get from him is still the over agressive bluffs, so we call turn, and call any river.

while our hand is very strong here, it does not make sense to raise because he has few hands that are drawing and can call a raise, and he is probably betting river too often and we get alot of value from that.