Polished Poker Vol. I Study Group

John A · Dec 6, 2018

Alucard said:
Poker - €0.20 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

CO: 100 BB (VPIP: 27.40, PFR: 17.81, 3Bet Preflop: 8.89, Hands: 75)
Hero (BTN): 117.6 BB
SB: 128.9 BB (VPIP: 22.88, PFR: 16.99, 3Bet Preflop: 4.76, Hands: 159)
BB: 153.3 BB (VPIP: 26.03, PFR: 21.35, 3Bet Preflop: 11.59, Hands: 467)
UTG: 100 BB (VPIP: 19.05, PFR: 19.05, 3Bet Preflop: 12.50, Hands: 21)
MP: 205.1 BB (VPIP: 36.78, PFR: 21.84, 3Bet Preflop: 3.23, Hands: 90)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Jd Ah
fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop : (5.5 BB, 2 players) Qs 4s 4h
BB checks, Hero bets 2.2 BB, BB calls 2.2 BB

Turn : (9.9 BB, 2 players) Js
BB checks, Hero checks

River : (9.9 BB, 2 players) 5c
BB bets 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

the river bet is yearning for a call. Very much looks like Kx. Did I waste 4BB here? He doesn't do thin river bets that often

Kx? I'd lean towards a fold. It doesn't make sense for him to be betting anything less than Qx or flush there with how the hand played out. If he was bluffing, he's betting more. It's not like it's a really bad call for the price though, but think long term it's going to be -EV vs. this kind of opponent.

Question for you though... I know all the trendy poker training sites say open 2.5 or less on the button. If you open 3, do you think your opponents range is changing much? At these stakes, are you opening more when you open only 2.5 vs 3bbs? I'd just open 3. These guys are still playing really bad OOP. I wouldn't listen to the trendy training sites imho. You're missing value by opening less. And I'm talking about your whole range in that spot.

John A · Dec 6, 2018

braveslice said:
This was good and video too thx.

Thanks. And I should note, and will likely add it to the article. The blind defense range, that's something you can and should adjust based on your abilities. The bottom parts of that range should be cut out.

John A · Dec 6, 2018

braveslice said:
Any suggestions to major change, or should I just man it up and grind up?

What's the difference in the graphs? They both say this year, same stakes, same site.

Any ways, can't tell you much from a graph. If you want to post up some stats I'll provide some advice / feedback.

What areas are you struggling with most right now?

Figaroo2 · Dec 6, 2018

John A said:
Since blind defense was brought up the other day, did a short article and video on open button vs BB defense. It's mostly focused on how to play from the button, but some important concepts in there.

https://www.acepokersolutions.com/p.../open-button-vs-big-blind-defense-poker-time/

Thanks John very useful.

Alucard · Dec 7, 2018

John A said:
Kx? I'd lean towards a fold. It doesn't make sense for him to be betting anything less than Qx or flush there with how the hand played out. If he was bluffing, he's betting more. It's not like it's a really bad call for the price though, but think long term it's going to be -EV vs. this kind of opponent.

Question for you though... I know all the trendy poker training sites say open 2.5 or less on the button. If you open 3, do you think your opponents range is changing much? At these stakes, are you opening more when you open only 2.5 vs 3bbs? I'd just open 3. These guys are still playing really bad OOP. I wouldn't listen to the trendy training sites imho. You're missing value by opening less. And I'm talking about your whole range in that spot.

This i my std BTN opening range with some adjustments here n there. THat comes down to around 55%

I've been opening 2.5x from BTN & CO since 10NL. I think people overfold to 3BB opens which might now be a bad thing at all ofc. This is vs most regs.

braveslice · Dec 7, 2018

John A said:
What's the difference in the graphs? They both say this year, same stakes, same site.

Any ways, can't tell you much from a graph. If you want to post up some stats I'll provide some advice / feedback.

What areas are you struggling with most right now?

Uh, I was totally steaming about my lousy 3.6 bb/100 win rate so I wasn’t thinking straight.

So, the question is there a super leak to fix, or should I just completely reform my game? I don’t even understand where I lose it. Big blind is not the best, that I can see.

Figaroo2 · Dec 7, 2018

Yeah Brave you are leaking pretty bad from the blinds. That's where you need to concentrate your study efforts.

braveslice · Dec 7, 2018

Figaroo2 said:
Yeah Brave you are leaking pretty bad from the blinds. That's where you need to concentrate your study efforts.

Still if I up BB to -40bb/100, that would make winrate to go up about 12/6=2bb. That can’t be the explanation? SB is good?

What I’m calculating wrong?: 30.21+28.87+18.36+.18.97-52.45-22.12 = 21.84bb/100

cris1964 · Dec 7, 2018

And the free flight to Mars is also?

braveslice · Dec 7, 2018

John A said:
What areas are you struggling with most right now?

braveslice said:
I don’t even understand where I lose it.
What I’m calculating wrong?: 30.21+28.87+18.36+.18.97-52.45-22.12 = 21.84bb/100

Ok, I get it now. You have to divide by number of positions 21.84/6= 3.64
So I’m not ‘panicking’ anymore, I just need to look pure cash values, not that I like how it looks, but at least I can understand it. Ty, typing it out lessens steam considerable amounts

John A · Dec 9, 2018

braveslice said:
Uh, I was totally steaming about my lousy 3.6 bb/100 win rate so I wasn’t thinking straight.

So, the question is there a super leak to fix, or should I just completely reform my game? I don’t even understand where I lose it. Big blind is not the best, that I can see.

Need a more complete report to give serious feedback. Of course you have PT and not HM or Drivehud (would be super simple to direct you).

Looks like the BB is def a problem though. SB could be also, but hand sample is not large enough to really make any serious conclusions.

Post up some hands though too about spots you're struggling with and we'll all pitch in to help out. Maybe try and play some non-fast fold poker also? Think fast fold is decent for winrate/time. But for quality of play and winrate it's not.

braveslice · Dec 10, 2018

John A said:
Post up some hands though too about spots you're struggling with and we'll all pitch in to help out. Maybe try and play some non-fast fold poker also? Think fast fold is decent for winrate/time. But for quality of play and winrate it's not.

I'll do. But yeah sorry making unnecessary noise in your topic. Tilting outside the tables might be more profitable money wise, but will make you lose dignity =D

John A · Dec 11, 2018

braveslice said:
I'll do. But yeah sorry making unnecessary noise in your topic. Tilting outside the tables might be more profitable money wise, but will make you lose dignity =D

It's not unnecessary, it's a part of poker. Dealing with swings, variance, tilt, etc... that's poker.

Try non fast tables for awhile though and see how that goes.

John A · Dec 14, 2018

Alucard said:
This i my std BTN opening range with some adjustments here n there. THat comes down to around 55%

I've been opening 2.5x from BTN & CO since 10NL. I think people overfold to 3BB opens which might now be a bad thing at all ofc. This is vs most regs.

Range is ok. I assume you adjust some based on your opponents. I wouldn't stay with static raises though. Sometimes I'm min raising the button, sometimes I'm 3.5x. It depends on the blinds. One thing you want to avoid is being a robot in poker. You should always be looking for little edges and exploiting them. If people call too much in the blinds, you should be increasing your raise size and see if their range changes. I'm betting it won't really change much at these stakes, so get max value when you're in position.

John A · Dec 19, 2018

braveslice said:
Uh, I was totally steaming about my lousy 3.6 bb/100 win rate so I wasn’t thinking straight.

So, the question is there a super leak to fix, or should I just completely reform my game? I don’t even understand where I lose it. Big blind is not the best, that I can see.

btw, if you have a bigger sample size post it and we can give some feedback. It would be good to have 3-bet, fold to 3-bet in there, agg%.

BoddJonar · Dec 19, 2018

I got a lot to read trough here but just for reference: could I post hands or stats here for help with improving my cash game?

I will try to read trough all of this during the coming weekend.

Alucard · Dec 20, 2018

iPoker - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

CO: 52.06 BB (VPIP: 52.73, PFR: 30.91, 3Bet Preflop: 14.81, Hands: 56)
Hero (BTN): 176.38 BB
SB: 154.58 BB (VPIP: 25.40, PFR: 17.91, 3Bet Preflop: 5.63, Hands: 382)
BB: 113 BB (VPIP: 26.67, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 5.26, Hands: 48)
UTG: 368.78 BB (VPIP: 25.14, PFR: 20.11, 3Bet Preflop: 10.77, Hands: 180)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Kd Ks
UTG raises to 2.7 BB, fold, Hero raises to 10.4 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 7.7 BB

Flop : (22.3 BB, 2 players) Th 6d Td
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn : (22.3 BB, 2 players) Jd
UTG bets 16.72 BB, Hero calls 16.72 BB

River : (55.74 BB, 2 players) 3s
UTG bets 26 BB, Hero calls 26 BB

UTG is really loose
Is checking flop too passive? Bruce told me that he'd be looking for a triple vs JJ
I think both checking & betting have merit to them. Since he's loose, and being deep & being 50NL I'm a bit cautious of playing a big pot here.

Also I think it's likely 2 streets max value hand. Hard to get 3 strts max even from JJ
But at the same time I'm considering my cbetting range on that board. It'd probably be all Tx es & FDs with overcards. But what wold my bluffing range would be? I'd probably bet AK,AQ,AJ as well

Figaroo2 · Dec 20, 2018

Just to clarify. JJ came in but Id usually be betting all 3 streets for value here. If he has QQ he should call down.
The Jd isnt a great card for us. Id bet flop 100% of the time here, check turn maybe half the time, bet river everytime for 55-60% pot and fold to a river raise.
You might even get 2 streets off 99 88 here as well he might think you are barrelling AK.

Figaroo2 · Dec 20, 2018

BoddJonar said:
I got a lot to read trough here but just for reference: could I post hands or stats here for help with improving my cash game?

I will try to read trough all of this during the coming weekend.

Fire away we are happy to help any CCer looking to improve their cash games. If you havent already done so download the free study book via the links in the opening post.

BoddJonar · Dec 20, 2018

Figaroo2 said:
Fire away we are happy to help any CCer looking to improve their cash games. If you havent already done so download the free study book via the links in the opening post.

Will do good sir! And thank you [emoji3]

John A · Dec 23, 2018

BoddJonar said:
I got a lot to read trough here but just for reference: could I post hands or stats here for help with improving my cash game?

I will try to read trough all of this during the coming weekend.

Yes. You can jump it at anytime. I'd recommend downloading the book though - it's free, and work your way out from there. Post hands, comment on hands, etc..

John A · Dec 23, 2018

Alucard said:
iPoker - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

CO: 52.06 BB (VPIP: 52.73, PFR: 30.91, 3Bet Preflop: 14.81, Hands: 56)
Hero (BTN): 176.38 BB
SB: 154.58 BB (VPIP: 25.40, PFR: 17.91, 3Bet Preflop: 5.63, Hands: 382)
BB: 113 BB (VPIP: 26.67, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 5.26, Hands: 48)
UTG: 368.78 BB (VPIP: 25.14, PFR: 20.11, 3Bet Preflop: 10.77, Hands: 180)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Kd Ks
UTG raises to 2.7 BB, fold, Hero raises to 10.4 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 7.7 BB

Flop : (22.3 BB, 2 players) Th 6d Td
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn : (22.3 BB, 2 players) Jd
UTG bets 16.72 BB, Hero calls 16.72 BB

River : (55.74 BB, 2 players) 3s
UTG bets 26 BB, Hero calls 26 BB

UTG is really loose
Is checking flop too passive? Bruce told me that he'd be looking for a triple vs JJ
I think both checking & betting have merit to them. Since he's loose, and being deep & being 50NL I'm a bit cautious of playing a big pot here.

Also I think it's likely 2 streets max value hand. Hard to get 3 strts max even from JJ
But at the same time I'm considering my cbetting range on that board. It'd probably be all Tx es & FDs with overcards. But what wold my bluffing range would be? I'd probably bet AK,AQ,AJ as well

Yes, checking flop is too passive. Because you're deeper, I don't hate it. If you were ~100bbs, I'd be throwing dead cats at you.

But yeah, think you lost lots of value on this hand because once you checked, then he set the pricing on the turn, and you didn't get as much value as you could have the rest of the way.

JackleOfCrackle · Dec 24, 2018

Joining this! Looks like some good stuff!

Just to introduce myself I have played and studied poker for around 5 years. I now play mostly live 2/5 after online was banned in Australia. I was grinding a decent profit online at 1/2 and became a consistent winning player after around 1 year of studying and learning.
Very keen to get into some hand analysis and strategy chat here!

Figaroo2 · Dec 25, 2018

Button spots

Ok I've been reviewing Btn v BB spots.
Does anyone raise before the river at anypoint and do we go for the overbet here? I know it's a raised pot and a bit bigger than we'd probably like. Villain is a pretty average reg for the level.
Pacific, $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players

SB: $5 (100 bb)
BB: $5.20 (104 bb)VPIP: 16, PFR: 10, 3B: 5, AF: 1.7, Hands: 967 31% WTSD
UTG+1: $6.39 (127.8 bb)
UTG+2: $7.36 (147.2 bb)
MP1: $5.25 (105 bb)
MP2: $3.69 (73.8 bb)
MP3: $10.92 (218.4 bb)
CO: $5.15 (103 bb)
Hero (BTN): $6.38 (127.6 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 8♥ 9♥
6 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, SB folds, BB raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($0.82) 2♥ J♠ T♣ (2 players)
BB bets $0.36, Hero calls $0.36 (I did consider a raise here)

Turn: ($1.54) A♣ (2 players)
BB bets $0.77, Hero calls $0.77 (good card for his range, in hindsight this may be a fold here as our queen outs are now tainted.)

River: ($3.08) K♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero?

I actually decided against a bluff here and gave up. The pot is raised and 2 pair and sets and some straights are indicated and his wtsd is 31% which is stickier than usual for this villians stats.

This is probably a better example, multitabling reg.
Pacific, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $10.39 (103.9 bb)VPIP: 18, PFR: 12, 3B: 4, AF: 1.9, Hands: 6897 30%WTSD
BB: $10.37 (103.7 bb)
UTG: $12.62 (126.2 bb)
MP: $11.53 (115.3 bb)
CO: $10.63 (106.3 bb)
Hero (BTN): $12.30 (123 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 4♥ 4♠
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, SB calls $0.25, BB folds

Flop: ($0.70) 2♣ 8♦ Q♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks (I prefer a cbet here in hindsight on this ragged dry board)

Turn: ($0.70) 5♥ (2 players)
SB bets $0.35, Hero calls $0.35

River: ($1.40) 2♦ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero?
Overbet looks good here to me to try and fold out 5x 66 77 8x I know we don't rep much here but it's difficult for anyone to have much here, any thoughts?

Figaroo2 · Dec 25, 2018

Similar spot again with a small pair, WTSD is a little high though.
Poker Stars, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players

SB: $7.99 (79.9 bb)
BB: $10 (100 bb)VPIP: 15, PFR: 12, 3B: 3, AF: 1.0, Hands: 117 35% WTSD
UTG+1: $12.99 (129.9 bb)
UTG+2: $2.23 (22.3 bb)
MP1: $13.23 (132.3 bb)
MP2: $10.27 (102.7 bb)
MP3: $10 (100 bb)
CO: $4.25 (42.5 bb)
Hero (BTN): $20.88 (208.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 3♥ 3♣
6 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, SB folds, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65) 4♥ 2♠ J♠ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.31, BB calls $0.31

Turn: ($1.27) 2♣ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($1.27) K♣ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero?
The K is a nice card to rep and an overbet here puts pressure on nearly all his flop calling range. Slightly concerned by his stickyness but I think the river is scary enough. Thoughts on an overbet here?

I do actually only have 38 hand examples in 12,500 hands this month (full ring mainly with me) where its unopened to me on the button, I open raised and we saw the river card. This is clearly going to be more of a 6max thing.
The ranges regs are calling in the BB in these 38 were pretty strong, obviously the fish were much wider.

Polished Poker Vol. I Study Group

John A

Poker Zion Coach

John A

Poker Zion Coach

John A

Poker Zion Coach

Figaroo2

Legend

Alucard

Santoryu

braveslice

Pull-ups!

Figaroo2

Legend

braveslice

Pull-ups!

cris1964

Legend

braveslice

Pull-ups!

John A

Poker Zion Coach

braveslice

Pull-ups!

John A

Poker Zion Coach

John A

Poker Zion Coach

John A

Poker Zion Coach

BoddJonar

Visionary

Alucard

Santoryu

Figaroo2

Legend

Figaroo2

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BoddJonar

Visionary

John A

Poker Zion Coach

John A

Poker Zion Coach

JackleOfCrackle

Enthusiast

Figaroo2

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Figaroo2

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