BQ Digest, May and June edition, 2012
05-15-2012
, 07:46 AM
"The mission of the BQ Digest is to inform and entertain our readers"
Welcome to the "BQ Digest". We think the May/June issue covers a lot of ground and we hope you will agree.
Our strat section is expanded a bit this month by the addition of two hand histories, posted in a preferred format by Hippy80 and analyzed by BQ guest editor and successful professional player. Davidv1213 contributes his thoughts on how the hands should have been played. Of course Mike offers a lot of great advice for all of us in his strat column.
The digest staff has chosen ZUMBY as our poster of the month.
Last months crossword puzzle seemed popular so we have another one this month. If you enjoy crosswords, please give us some feedback on whether our puzzles are too easy or to difficult. We can use the feedback.
nismo9 and TheDefiniteArticle both submitted perfect answers to last months MistiBlue quiz. nismo was first in and has been awarded the 4 weeks entry to SHANOOBIGANS. Congratulations guys.
Papapyrite and GJS70 update us on the state of pending legislation in the US, and the efforts of the "Poker Players Alliance"
Reading the above list it looks like a good issue, actually there is much more with our regular columnists and commentary. We hope you will like this issue and will give us your questions, comments, and/or suggestions for improvement in the thread.
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Because the forum was down so long, this issue is the combined May and June issue and we expect to post our next issue in July. ASB has contributed some comments about the 2+2 outage below.************************************************** *****
(NB: AlienSpaceBat has asked the digest editors to point out that this information is provided by him, and is not any kind of an official statement from 2+2)
Quote:
The great 2+2 outage of 2012 contributed by AlienSpaceBat
As you all know, the forums have been offline for just over two weeks. Many people want to know just what happened. I will try to give a brief explanation of what happened, but, as you will realise, there are some things I shouldn't go into too much detail about, and some things that I don't know.
On the 26th April, in the afternoon (European time), there was a post made by a previously virtually unseen green Moderator account in the Internet Poker forum. The content of the post was strange, and it was clearly an inactive mod account. The post was taken down within a few minutes and moved to the mod forum.
Another similar post was then made, using a different moderator account.
Obviously this was alarming, and the site admins started to investigate what was happening immediately. Whilst discussions were going on in the mod forum about this, posts were made directly in the mod forum using two more moderator accounts, making it plain that someone had login access to multiple moderator accounts.
The hacker did specifically state that he was not trying to steal personal data, and he made a demand that 2+2 take a specific action. I think it is best if I don't say what this was, but it appeared to be related to the hacker's real life situation.
2+2 forums use the VBulletin forum software, which holds passwords securely as salted hashes. For those interested in the technicalities, your passwords are never held in plain text. When you save a password, the forum software uses a standard cryptographic one way hash function - MD5 - to create a long string of digits representing the password. A random string of characters specific to you is also created (the salt) and that is appended to the hash string, and this longer string is then hashed again by MD5. This output is what is stored in the database, together with the random salt.
Shortly after repeating his demand, the hacker made a very long post in the mod forum without explanation. It appeared clear that this post contained a list of user names, the stored password hashes and the salt for each user. This was followed very quickly by a post listing 3 more mod accounts and the account passwords in plain text.
It was therefore clear that the hacker had achieved access to some user data, and that he demonstrated the ability to find out plain text passwords. It is very likely that he had to do this on an account by account basis using brute force, which is time consuming, and very unlikely that he had any kind of large list of account passwords. Obviously though he could have had an unknown number of passwords already cracked, and could continue to crack further accounts one by one.
At this point the forums were taken offline in order to protect everyone.
The personal information held by 2+2 at the time of registration is basically your email address and the supplied date of birth. The hacker specifically said that he was not going to use this data for any purpose, but, given that he had just brazenly hacked into a very large website breaking many laws in the process, it just wasn't sensible to make any assumptions at all about what he may or may not do with the data. This was the reason for the announcement made by the forums saying that email addresses of members were known by the hacker, and potentially the 2+2 password that you used, and that you should change your password anywhere you had used the same one.
A lot of work was done by 2+2 admins after the shutdown, together with outside security consultants, and the site was moved to new servers and brought back up on the 12th May.
The likelihood (in just my opinion) is that there were hopefully no further security implications for individual users. It is impossible to know this for sure though, and this whole event serves as a reminder that good security is everyone's responsibility. Use strong passwords, don't reuse passwords across multiple sites.
As you all know, the forums have been offline for just over two weeks. Many people want to know just what happened. I will try to give a brief explanation of what happened, but, as you will realise, there are some things I shouldn't go into too much detail about, and some things that I don't know.
On the 26th April, in the afternoon (European time), there was a post made by a previously virtually unseen green Moderator account in the Internet Poker forum. The content of the post was strange, and it was clearly an inactive mod account. The post was taken down within a few minutes and moved to the mod forum.
Another similar post was then made, using a different moderator account.
Obviously this was alarming, and the site admins started to investigate what was happening immediately. Whilst discussions were going on in the mod forum about this, posts were made directly in the mod forum using two more moderator accounts, making it plain that someone had login access to multiple moderator accounts.
The hacker did specifically state that he was not trying to steal personal data, and he made a demand that 2+2 take a specific action. I think it is best if I don't say what this was, but it appeared to be related to the hacker's real life situation.
2+2 forums use the VBulletin forum software, which holds passwords securely as salted hashes. For those interested in the technicalities, your passwords are never held in plain text. When you save a password, the forum software uses a standard cryptographic one way hash function - MD5 - to create a long string of digits representing the password. A random string of characters specific to you is also created (the salt) and that is appended to the hash string, and this longer string is then hashed again by MD5. This output is what is stored in the database, together with the random salt.
Shortly after repeating his demand, the hacker made a very long post in the mod forum without explanation. It appeared clear that this post contained a list of user names, the stored password hashes and the salt for each user. This was followed very quickly by a post listing 3 more mod accounts and the account passwords in plain text.
It was therefore clear that the hacker had achieved access to some user data, and that he demonstrated the ability to find out plain text passwords. It is very likely that he had to do this on an account by account basis using brute force, which is time consuming, and very unlikely that he had any kind of large list of account passwords. Obviously though he could have had an unknown number of passwords already cracked, and could continue to crack further accounts one by one.
At this point the forums were taken offline in order to protect everyone.
The personal information held by 2+2 at the time of registration is basically your email address and the supplied date of birth. The hacker specifically said that he was not going to use this data for any purpose, but, given that he had just brazenly hacked into a very large website breaking many laws in the process, it just wasn't sensible to make any assumptions at all about what he may or may not do with the data. This was the reason for the announcement made by the forums saying that email addresses of members were known by the hacker, and potentially the 2+2 password that you used, and that you should change your password anywhere you had used the same one.
A lot of work was done by 2+2 admins after the shutdown, together with outside security consultants, and the site was moved to new servers and brought back up on the 12th May.
The likelihood (in just my opinion) is that there were hopefully no further security implications for individual users. It is impossible to know this for sure though, and this whole event serves as a reminder that good security is everyone's responsibility. Use strong passwords, don't reuse passwords across multiple sites.
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Without further bloviating we give you Zumby, Digest POTM for May.
My name is Zumby, I'm from London and am a DJ/producer by trade. Aside from music and poker my interests include science, natural history and archaic tobacco products.
I expect my poker story is similar to many of yours; around this time last year I started out donking around with no clue what I was doing at NL100, won a bit, lost it again and repeated the cycle for a month or so before deciding to work out what the hell was going wrong. This led me to 2+2 and it's wealth of knowledge and helpful contributors. After about 6 months of studying, playing lots of hands and more studying, I finally became a consistent winning player.
These days I mostly focus on HU and 6max NLHE, though I've dabbled in PLO. I would describe my style as fairly LAG, though I adjust heavily to each opponent and table dynamic. My study time is fairly evenly split between posting and reading the forums and working on poker math and database analysis.
For me poker is mainly about the fun, mental exercise and some extra cash and so I don't have any real long-term goals, though I'm aiming to make the move up to small stakes in the next month or so.
Anyway, I'm not really much for writing bios about myself so I'm going to leave it there but feel free to ask me any questions either here on by PM.
We are excited about this addition to the Digest strat section. BQ reg Hippy80 donated two hands he played for review by Davidv1213. Most of the regs here know David from his years as a respected BQ poster and regular player in the forum games. We also follow his many successes on the EPT. The digest thanks both of these guys for taking the time to demonstrate how to properly post and analyze a hand in the forum.
Quote:
MP1 has been playing well, and has shown the ability to call large bets, and float and bluff, and has proven himself to be a decent player.Poker Stars $2.50+$0.25
CO: t1530 M = 2.27
Hero (BTN): t27538 M = 40.80
SB: t4815 M = 7.13
No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t150/t300 Blinds + t25 - 9 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
BB: t7365 M = 10.91
UTG: t5585 M = 8.27
UTG+1: t4430 M = 6.56
UTG+2: t11050 M = 16.3
MP1: t18132 M = 26.86
MP2: t7130 M = 10.56UTG: t5585 M = 8.27
UTG+1: t4430 M = 6.56
UTG+2: t11050 M = 16.3
MP1: t18132 M = 26.86
CO: t1530 M = 2.27
Hero (BTN): t27538 M = 40.80
SB: t4815 M = 7.13
Pre Flop: (t675) Hero is BTN with T 
J 
J 3 folds, MP1 raises to t685, 2 folds, Hero calls t685, 2 folds
I called here as I'm in position, and I'm happy with my post flop play against this guy. I could easily take it on the flop if he checks, and my hand is good enough to play against his possible range.
Don't really like this call, JTo is dominated really pretty often vs any reasonable opening range and you can't actually flop really stong hands very often. It's gonna be quite hard to get paid on most JTx boards and even with an open-ender which is the strongest draw you can flop I don't think you can be too happy about getting a lot of money in, especially on boards with a flush draw. Pair + open ender is quite good but your opponent is likely to c/f these boards pretty often anyway.
You should also consider that your opponent is opening into 4 stacks that could postentially shove on them and this should tighten their opening range although one of the mistakes they are prob aren't considering this tbh.
Also the fact that there are shortstacks in the blinds should make you less inclined to call with a weak hand.
Would prob rather have J8s than JTo here given that you can make stronger hands/draws on boards that don't look like they hit you so hard and although JT makes stronger pair hands in an absolute sense, there is little difference between the two when you hit a jack (don't expect opponent to have JTo or J9) and you are actually dominated less often when you hit an 8 than a ten and our opponent rarely has 9x or worse tens than QT so the two are very similar hands.
Having said that I think they are both a fold, especially given stacks
3betting is a reasonable option. got no reads on how they are going to respond
Flop: (t2045) Q 
9 8 (2 players)
MP1 bets t1051, Hero raises to t2500, MP1 calls t1449
9 8 (2 players)MP1 bets t1051, Hero raises to t2500, MP1 calls t1449
I hit the jackpot here, and I'm looking for value. Villain has made large calls with marginal hands, so I make the re-raise here for value.
this board will be perceived to hit you pretty hard so most people will have something quite often when they cbet. Most of the time when you call your opponent is going to continue with hands that would continue to a flop raise anyway and there are a lot of cards that can come that will lose you action from worse stuff so raising is good. I would go a bit bigger 28-2900, it's unlikely to make a difference in how they respond.
Turn: (t7045) Q (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets t4000, MP1 calls t4000
(2 players)MP1 checks, Hero bets t4000, MP1 calls t4000
Again, I'm still pretty sure I'm in front here, and the villain has shown no signs of wanting to fold here. My very large bet is designed to get called based on what I've seen from this guy.
I would expect any 2pair/set to 3bet flop so I expect you to be ahead here and your opponent to mostly have some sort of 1-pair hand (maybe trips now). betting can get another call from 9x/TT/JJ and stack Qx when they crai, which I would expect very often.
I wouldn't say your sizing is very large but it is a decent size and prob about right to maximise calls from the hands I mentioned.
River: (t15045) 3 (2 players)
MP1 bets t10922 all in, Hero calls t10922
Now, here I'm replaying the hand in my mind. I went through nearly a full timebank working this out.
I'm behind to a well played Full house, but I'd have expected this guy to raise both on the flop with either a set or 2 pair, and on the turn with the boat.
He could have sucked out and hit a flush, but if he has, he's played it really badly, and my thoughts have him polarised to air, or a badly played Flush. On balance, I don't think he plays the flush this way, and call.
I think you are correct about what they would do on the flop with 2pair/set, but if they did call and turn a boat I would expect them to slow play further some decent amount, although likely check the river too most of the time.
(2 players)MP1 bets t10922 all in, Hero calls t10922
Now, here I'm replaying the hand in my mind. I went through nearly a full timebank working this out.
I'm behind to a well played Full house, but I'd have expected this guy to raise both on the flop with either a set or 2 pair, and on the turn with the boat.
He could have sucked out and hit a flush, but if he has, he's played it really badly, and my thoughts have him polarised to air, or a badly played Flush. On balance, I don't think he plays the flush this way, and call.
I think you are correct about what they would do on the flop with 2pair/set, but if they did call and turn a boat I would expect them to slow play further some decent amount, although likely check the river too most of the time.
It is really pretty hard for them to have air having called flop raise and turn barrel, not many missed draws for them to have and not many of those that there are should be hands in their opening range.
This could be a pretty good time for them to turn 9x/8x+draw into a bluff since it is hard for them to be bluffing and they can somewhat reasonably rep a flush although that is not something I would expect from most players and also the spot is not actually very good at all since you are mostly nutted and can easily have a high flush/boat.
most of their flushes should consist of broadway cards or connectors almost all of which flopped very strong and are likely to get it in on flop. if they do have a flush here I would expect it to be 54s/64s or such like (which should not be in their opening range fwiw but could be)
I think they can be kinda accidentally merging/trying to bluff off a chop with JT a decent amount and now and then will have Qx or T9 + flushes should be pretty rare so were not happy about it but pot odds etc meh call.
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Villain is playing 27/8 and pretty passive. I've been playing 23/15 and pretty aggressive, but both are a pretty small sample size, this also a freeroll, but the play has actually been pretty good so far.
Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t30/t60 Blinds - 9 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
BTN: t9413 156.88 BBs
SB: t10732 178.87 BBs
SB: t10732 178.87 BBs
BB: t9775 162.92 BBs
UTG: t9114 151.90 BBs
UTG+1: t9775 162.92 BBs
Hero (UTG+2): t9496 158.27 BBs
MP1: t9775 162.92 BBs
MP2: t10000 166.67 BBs
CO: t21920 365.33 BBs
Pre Flop: (t90) Hero is UTG+2 with 9
9
UTG raises to t180, 1 fold, Hero calls t180, 2 folds, CO calls t180, 3 folds
Hero (UTG+2): t9496 158.27 BBs
MP1: t9775 162.92 BBs
MP2: t10000 166.67 BBs
CO: t21920 365.33 BBs
Pre Flop: (t90) Hero is UTG+2 with 9
9 UTG raises to t180, 1 fold, Hero calls t180, 2 folds, CO calls t180, 3 folds
I call behind as I'm in effect hoping for a nice flop, as villains range raising UTG is probably at best flipping with me PF.
passive dude opens utg ok lets set mine
Flop: (t630) 2 5 2 (3 players)
UTG bets t360, Hero calls t360, CO folds
5 2 (3 players)UTG bets t360, Hero calls t360, CO folds
Villain hasn't been c-betting much, so my call here is loose. Not really got enough of a read to get any info here. My 99 is probably just ahead of his range here.
Could just fold now tbh, especially with someone behind. I dunno how many hands you have on this guy but 8% open is verrrry few hands and gonna be even less utg. they may not even have most worse pairs, and 2 opponents is a deterrent to cbet especially for a passive player
Turn: (t1350) 5 (2 players)
UTG bets t720, Hero calls t720
(2 players)UTG bets t720, Hero calls t720
My call here is crap. I hate it, and I can't justify it at all. He's either bluffing/value betting A high, or he's on a Boat, or has a better PP than I do. Considering his stats, A high is poss, but do I have the odds to call against his PP's?
yeah they have AJ+cc/KQcc (which I wouldn't expect them to even bet again always when the board double pairs and possibly not bet flop if they're really passive) and overpairs, id say weighted to qq+ considering that they may check turn somewhat often with worse pairs
River: (t2790) 9 (2 players)
UTG bets t1500, Hero raises to t3750, UTG raises to t7854 all in, Hero calls t4104
(2 players)UTG bets t1500, Hero raises to t3750, UTG raises to t7854 all in, Hero calls t4104
I must have done something good in a past life, because the best card in the deck just came out on the river. The call is pretty much automatic.
would prob rip it bigger with the raise, 4300ish, don't think they are folding any more for the extra 5500. They should really only be 3bet jamming the river with at worst 5x, and that is only to fold chops, but are probably doing it wider so you gotta call. Unlikely for them to have better since there are so few combos and imo they are going to be very inclined to slowplay a hand as strong as quads
View all 2 hands
View all 2 hands
by...Mikes007
Identifying and Exploiting Tendencies in Your Opponents
In poker, we are always trying to understand what our opponents are doing, and take actions to exploit their errors. We use HUD stats, notes, and our recent history against our opponents to identify any such tendencies which we can exploit. I will describe some leaks that I regularly find in my opponents, and the ways in which you can exploit them. Further, I will discuss ways in which they can adjust to reexploit you.
Perhaps the largest and easiest error to spot is playing too many hands passively. This leak is very easy to identify simply by looking at a player's VPIP, and the gap between VPIP and PFR. Typically, players with this leak have a very high VPIP, sometimes above 50%, and a large gap between VPIP and PFR, indicating that they are only raising strong hands, and limping or cold-calling with weak hands. The way we exploit this is by trying to play as many pots against these players as possible, particularly when we have position. Typically, if one of these players limps in ahead of you, you will want to raise to isolate him with quite a wide range. The size of your raise will depend on a few factors. If you are likely to face a 3bet from solid regs behind you, you will want to size your bet a bit smaller than usual, saving you money those times that you fold to a 3bet. If the limper likes to limp/call, but plays fit-or-fold on the flop, you will want to size your raise a bit larger than normal, as you make more money the more he calls preflop and folds to a cbet. Usually, you will want to raise to between 4 and 6 bb when isolating one of these players. If there are multiple players who limp in front of you, your fold equity both preflop and postflop will be reduced as compared to the situation where there is only one limper. Therefore, you will still want to isolate multiple limpers widely, but not as widely as you would isolate a single limper. And you can certainly limp-behind a few of these guys with speculative hands assuming stacks are not short. If a reg open-raises, and one of these players cold-calls, you can increase your cold-calling range a bit as well, since the entry of the loose-passive into the pot basically provides an overlay for you and for the opener. Furthermore, this is a great squeeze opportunity, so you should widen your range of 3bet hands, and weight it strongly towards value, as there is a good chance that the reg will fold and you will be able to play a pot against the fish heads-up with a stronger range than he has. There is not much that this style of player can do to reexploit you if you decide to isolate him wide. Really the best thing he can do is stop playing so many hands and stop open-limping them. But this kind of player very seldom will make this adjustment; if he were capable of thinking on the level necessary to do so, he would not be playing so many hands to begin with. Occasionally, you will find some opponents who will adjust by limp-reraising you often, in which case you can tighten up your isolation range a bit, and continue against their reraise often. Usually, any limp-reraising strategy that they employ will not be sufficient to overcome the inherently -EV play of open-limping so many hands.
Another preflop leak which is somewhat common in microstakes is failing to 3bet enough. There are some players who will only 3bet a static range of something like JJ+/AKo. This is a 3% range. The way you exploit these players is by folding to their 3bets, unless you are getting odds to setmine with a pair, or you have a monster hand yourself. You are totally owning them when you fold almost all of your range to their 3bet. It feels weird to exploit somebody by folding; after all, you lose every single pot that you fold. But the money you save by refusing to pay off their monsters counts just as much, and will improve your winrate just as much, as the money you make when they pay off your monsters. Be aware that by folding so often, you yourself become exploitable; your opponent can almost 3bet any two cards if you are folding to his 3bet more than 70% of the time. But the players who 3bet a 3% range are not the opponents who are looking to 3bet you light. So you should not worry that this player is exploiting you, unless he shows you that he is capable of adjusting by 3betting light, in which case you will need to readjust by not folding to his 3bets so often.
A really profitable situation for you is when the players on your left are tight and nitty. Against tight players, who fold often and do not 3bet a lot, you can expand your opening ranges. The best place to do so is in the steal positions: the cutoff, button, and small blind. In earlier positions, you might be able to expand your ranges a little bit, however you still have to get through the rest of the table, who may not be tight at all. But when the pot is unopened to you in a steal position and the remaining players are mostly nits, your fold equity is very large and you can thus open hands which are weaker than normal. Let me give an example: Suppose the bb folds his bb to steal 80% of the time, and the sb folds his sb to steal 85% of the time. If you are on the button and open-raise to 2.5bb, they will both fold 68% of the time (80% x 85% = 68%). When they fold, you win 1.5bb, and when they continue you lose 2.5bb if you fold to any further action. Let's calculate the EV of this spot:
EV = 1.5bb * .68 - 2.5bb * .32 = 1.02bb – 0.8bb = .22bb
You're making .22bb per hand, or 22bb/100, EVEN IF YOU FOLD EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY CALL OR 3BET. This is massive. Your real EV will be even higher, since you will still have equity when called. Against these particular opponents, you can open any two cards profitably. However, I would still fold some of the worst hands here – things like T4o or 32o, as you don't want to make it obvious that you are stealing all their money. Even the most unobservant opponents will realize if you are opening every single button, and will likely be humiliated into playing back at you. Despite the fact that they are likely uncomfortable playing marginal hands, any adjustment they make – whether it be calling and check-raising some flops, or check-calling down light, or 3betting you light preflop - will likely have a lower EV for you than their continued preflop folding.
When a player raises in front of you preflop and you have to decide if you want to cold-call or not in position, you can gain a lot of information and make a plan for later streets by looking at their postflop tendencies, particularly their cbet %. An important thing to remember about cbet percentages and postflop aggresion stats in general is that you have to interpret them in light of preflop ranges. A 10/7 nit may indeed have highly aggressive postflop stats, however this does not mean that he is getting out of line postflop; it simply means that his range is strong enough that he can legitimately bet many of his hands for value postflop. It is a different case with a 33/25 player who has high postflop aggression – he is almost certainly getting out of line both preflop and postflop. So keep preflop ranges strongly in mind whenever you attempt to use postflop reads to exploit your opponent.
Against players with a high cbet%, you will have to be able to bluff-raise or float many flops in order to exploit them, so you would tend to play hands that make monsters, and also hands which flop draws which you can semi-bluff raise or feel comfortable floating. Your opponent can adjust to your bluff-raises by not cbetting as often, and by continuing to your flop raise more often. If your opponent does start to frequently call your bluff-raises, that means that you would now not be able to bluff-raise with such a wide range, but on the other hand, you can widen your range for raising for value. Your opponent can adjust to your floating him by barreling the turn more often, and by check-calling and check-raising the turn rather than check-folding.
If a player has a high cbet% as well as a high turn cbet%, then you will not really be able to float them lightly, but your big hands like sets will tend to get paid off by allowing them to barrel twice, making your pocket pairs especially powerful against these aggressive barrelers. Furthermore, their range for barreling the turn will be quite wide, so you can bluff-raise them frequently not only on the flop, but also on the turn. If you do start bluff-raising these types of players with wide ranges, they may decide to narrow their ranges for cbetting both the flop and the turn, and they may also decide to continue more often when facing a raise from you on either street. This can lead to a situation where you aren't really certain if they have adjusted to your adjustments and whether or not you should raise with more value hands or more bluffs. This is not surprising; playing against a very good LAG who is capable of varying his play is hard.
Against players with a low cbet%, you will not want to bluff-raise or float often – if your opponent is only betting when he has hit the board, then your fold equity for any bluff-raise is considerably reduced, and furthermore he is likely to continue with the hand on the turn when you float him. But you gain a tremendous advantage by not facing a cbet. Usually, when the PFR checks to you on the flop, you can bet and they will fold the majority of the time. If instead your opponent like to check-call on the flop instead of cbetting, this is still advantageous for you, as you can bet your value hands and take a free card with your draws. If your opponent is similarly passive on all streets, you can cold-call pretty widely preflop, as you will be able to keep the pot small when it is advantageous to do so, and bet when you make your hand. Your opponent can adjust to your exploitation by being more aggressive with his cbets, in which case he would then fall into one of the previous categories of cbettors, and you would take the appropriate measures to exploit him again.
An extremely profitable situation occurs when you face opponents who are too passive on the river. They only valuebet very strong hands, seldom bluff, and almost never bluff-raise. While it is difficult and often takes many hands before you can get a read on your opponents' river tendencies, identifying this leak in your opponents will make your river play against them very profitable. Most of your incentive to bluff-catch the river vanishes against these players, as they are betting only the best of their hands. Therefore you can fold your marginal showdown hands when facing action from them. A lot of your OOP river check-calling range will disappear, and you will instead check-fold or valuebet when out of position against these opponents. When you think you are ahead and can get called by worse hands, you don't need to worry about getting bluff-raised, so you can value bet a little bit lighter than usual. You also can make weird little 1/3 pot and 1/4 pot valuebets with hands which you think are slightly ahead of his calling range without worrying about being exploited by bluff-raises. If your opponent does then raise, you can comfortably fold. An opponent playing passively on the river can make your turn decisions easier. Sometimes you face a bet on the turn and part of the reason for folding is the threat of having to face a big bet on the river which you cannot call. If you have a read that your opponent will not continue barreling a bluff on the river, then you can comfortably call the turn with some marginal hands which you would otherwise fold, knowing that your river decision will be easy. Your opponent can adjust by starting to bluff on the river. He should have great success when he starts to bluff the river against solid regs, as everyone will assume he has a monster and they will fold quite often, until they realize what he is doing and adjust by playing the river in a more standard fashion against him.
As you can see, there are any number of leaks which your opponents will have in their games. It is up to you to identify them and exploit them. I have given some examples of leaks to be aware of, however this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are almost an uncountable variety of possible leaks for you to exploit. Some are fairly obvious, like the 60/12 fish who is playing too many hands preflop. Others are more difficult to identify, like passive river play. By observing your opponents, taking notes, and properly utilizing HUD stats you can increase your winrate by exploiting the leaks in your opponents' games.
************************************
OLD GOLD:
Beginners tools thread
Link to Micros Limit Library
Link to BQ forum FAQ
Read the FAQ
Bellatrix on huhu
Beginners path to solid play (from LHE forum but concepts transfer) A milestone post
Link to BQ forum FAQ
Read the FAQ
Bellatrix on huhu
Beginners path to solid play (from LHE forum but concepts transfer) A milestone post
LINKS TO PREVIOUS DIGESTS:
BQ Digest April 2012
BQ Digest March 2012
BQ Digest February 2012
Link to January 2012 Digest
Link to December 2011 Digest
Link to November 2011 Digest
BQ Digest March 2012
BQ Digest February 2012
Link to January 2012 Digest
Link to December 2011 Digest
Link to November 2011 Digest
STRAT POSTS:
KK live
AK faces 3!
3! in position?
AQ three bet bt aggro villain
JJ with a K on board
99 on a scary board
AK faces 3!
3! in position?
AQ three bet bt aggro villain
JJ with a K on board
99 on a scary board
Milestones, Fun posts, Misc:
Bappity Bap (part 2) by Ice_W0lf
Hey guys, this month I am going to wrap up my two part series on bap’ing. In this month’s conclusion, I am going to focus on buying pieces of another player, why you should do it, and common pitfalls you may run into. First I’ll start with one of the questions from last month’s article, describing what bap’ing is… keep in mind that I wrote this in the sellers article, but the description remains the same:
What does selling shares mean and how does it work?
Selling shares means you are selling a percentage of your mtt and sng buyins in an attempt to reduce the hit your bankroll can take.
For our first example, we will keep it simple. You want to play $100 worth of sngs, and you want to sell 50% of your action. Each share (1%) would be $1. As you are playing these sngs, you keep track of your cashes. For payouts, we will go with 2 examples, for the first, you did well and had $400 worth of cashes and for the second, things didn’t go so well and you only had $75 worth of cashes.
So for each share (1%), in the first example you get $400 * 1% = $4 per share. For the second example you would have $75 * 1% = 75cents per share. So if one person buys 8 shares, in example one you would send back $32 and in the second example you send back $6.
Now the first question you might run in to: Why should I buy shares?
The reason you buy shares of a player is the same reason we should be doing anything in poker: you feel that your purchase will give a positive expectation in the long run.
Because some of the questions are the same as the previous article, I’ll post the similar questions:
Where do I buy shares?
There are several places to buy shares.
1) Having friends that play poker, a group that you talk with consistently, is a great place to sell shares quickly and consistently.
2) The 2+2 marketplace (please read the rules before posting there) is also a great resource for buying
shares.
3) There are some websites out there (google selling shares poker) that will allow you to buy shares in others.
1) Having friends that play poker, a group that you talk with consistently, is a great place to sell shares quickly and consistently.
2) The 2+2 marketplace (please read the rules before posting there) is also a great resource for buying
shares.
3) There are some websites out there (google selling shares poker) that will allow you to buy shares in others.
What is markup and markdown
Markup is when you increasing the price per share, without handing out any extra shares. To go back to the original $100 example, let’s say you are a player with good solid results and you believe you can sell your 1% shares for $1.05..this would be a 5% markup. Mark-up is generally figured through 3 things 1) Your reputation 2) Your skill/results and 3) What the market will bear.
Markdown Is the opposite, or decreasing your price per share. In the $100 example, you may sell each share for 95cents, or a 5% markdown. Generally this is done by people unknown in the community as a way to get their name out there.
What are some common mistakes when buying pieces of players?
A big mistake you see, especially with players new to buying pieces, is not doing their research. Overlooking the bad players that couldn’t beat a 4 year old that try to sell shares into large, tough tournaments (something you really should be checking out), there is unfortunately quite a few scumbags out there. Doing your research should help limit your risk.. look through 2+2, ask other players, look at opr/ptr/sharkscope etc, ask for references etc. Follow your gut! If something doesn’t seem right, don’t make the purchase. As someone that has been burned before, I can tell you it is a pretty awful feeling.
Paying too much markup can be costly. If you have a guy with a $5 or $6 abi..slight winner.. selling shares to $20 or $30 mtts, and has never played that high, trying to get markup of like 1.2 or something ridiculously high… you are burning money. There is no reason to believe that you are making an +ev purchase at that point.
Another common mistake is not paying attention to what you are buying or baps that are in progress. These should be pretty obvious but you should have an idea what games the person you are buying from plans on playing and make sure that he’s +ev in those games. Also, if you are one to buy pieces of a bunch of players at once, make sure you have some way to keep track how well your bapees are doing so that you can be sure that a) the players are still playing and didn’t just run off with the money b) they are playing the games that they are supposed to be playing and c) you know how much you are owed once the bap is over.
A final mistake I see is putting up too much of your own capital. While we all hope we are buying a huge winner, most times.. esp in small package baps.. you will probably end up somewhere between losing a bit of your investment to making a small profit. This is why you want to make sure you aren’t putting too much of your bankroll at risk (if you are taking this money out of your bankroll). I recent example of mine: jdawg was offering shares of his WSOP action and I was certainly interested, as he is insanely +ev in these games. Unfortunately for me, buying even 1% of his action would have left a huge hole in my bankroll that I was not willing to take on… so I had to pass this time.
As with any deal you make, just make sure of a few things:
1)The terms are clear. Who is playing, what games are being played and the time frame they are being played, and the price to be paid.
2)Make sure you do your homework, whether you are the buyer or the seller.
3)Most of all, make sure you are comfortable with what you are doing! If it doesn’t feel right, pass.1)The terms are clear. Who is playing, what games are being played and the time frame they are being played, and the price to be paid.
2)Make sure you do your homework, whether you are the buyer or the seller.
Tales from the Hive...by BumbleBee99
Playing the same game each month, day in day out, can get tiresome. It’s not called a grind for no-one reason. So after attempting to write a series of articles for the Digest on the delights of NL Hold Em I got bored within 2 minutes, threw my laptop out of the hive and promptly went on holiday to sunnier climes.
Despite trying to steer clear of the other Digest editors, they have roped me back in on the basis they will not make my drunken Skype chats public. So what to do? (Apart from trying to win the Badugi Scoop M Event, ldo).
Being a recreational player I don’t want poker to be a grind, I just want to mostly have fun at the tables, which generally involves playing what I want when I want but with so many variants to choose from it can be difficult to settle on something sometimes. So, some bright spark came up with the idea of letting the forum choose what I get to play during May. Yay
Several games were listed in a poll, including some I like and some I hate and the forum decided on Razz. Which I hate. Thank you BQ.
I do actually hate Razz, but only playing it as the “R” in HORSE is probably a factor as to why I don’t like it. Never given it the time of day before so I am perversely looking forward to it. At the end of the month I will either have a tolerable appreciation for the game, be playing $100/$200 HU like a boss or have poked my eyes out with a spoon and chopped my fingers off. Hopefully not the latter otherwise I’ll be using my nose to type next month.
Volume has been set at ~2,000 cash hands which isn’t a lot but hopefully enough for the few hours a week I play to make it a challenge. If I hit the target, I’ll take some of the Editors money and freeroll a Razz tournament. If I fail miserably, something bad will happen. I glossed over that part of the Digest meeting.
To make things interesting, and god knows how it happened, poster SGSpecial , aka Doctor Razz, a Cardrunners pro no less, found the poll and offered to review my first 100 hands and critique my play on the basis he could potentially use them in a video. I presume it will be called How Not to Play Razz!
See how I got on next month with the ole’ Razzle Dazzle, and if I haven’t pulled all my hair out I may let the forum choose again.
Oooo, alcohol! Maybe Razz won’t be so bad after all…………..
********************************************
In this months issue, digest columnist Wdwf introduces herself to the forum.
by...Auntie Whydowe_fall
I was introduced to 2+2 before I ever even played poker.
Shortly after the Christmas of 2007, I was released from my clerical job at a gym billing company, and had a lot of time on my hands. When I was not filling out job application after job application, I was watching my roommate play poker. He had begun to play poker a few months earlier, working his way up the levels on Full Tilt, and I was fascinated when I watched.
I had grown up playing videogames; the concept that, instead of paying for the cartridges I would be making money playing a game on a screen, was an amazing one. The only real problem was that I was absolutely clueless. I had no idea what hand strength beat what, range was what I put the kettle on, and ‘pot odds’ only expressed the chances of scoring some smokeables. In fact, while watching him grind one night I declared that ‘suited nines are my favorite hand’. I did not actually make the leap to playing yet, though (thankfully for my bank account).
He found 2+2 around this time. I do not actually remember him looking at the strategy forums, though I am sure he was; what I remember was him looking at BBV, back when BBV had interesting threads. Eventually, I created an account of my own so I would not have to just read over his shoulder.
I am sure my first few posts were hilarious, in the ‘I feel bad for you’ way. This was a different account, mind you, as WDWF has never been silly, uninformed, or out of the loop.
After a lot of floundering about and doing nothing, I finally started playing myself. My poker story itself is not that interesting; I started in the micros, I learned in the micros, I am still playing down in the micros. I have never put in the dedicated time and energy to get better, despite all the help being thrown at me on the forum and from my roommate. I play in order to have a little bit of fun, and to maybe bink that big, important tournament.
I have loved my time on 2+2, and I love the people that I have met here; I especially love giving back to the Beginners Question forum, as this is truly my home.
by...PapaPyrite and GJS70
May Poker Legislative Update
This past month marked the one year anniversary of Black Friday, and so we have decided to publish a regular Poker Legislation column in the Digest. In this section, we will keep our readers up-to-date on the state of the fight for our poker rights.
This past couple of months has seen a flurry of activity at the state level, but not much movement on the federal level, with only one bill currently being considered. The state activity will hopefully serve as a catalyst for more progress on the federal level this year, and several states now have legislation in place for online gaming, with several more very close to passing intra-state laws.
For a more detailed look at the current situation, we have asked our friend and poker rights activist GSJ70 to share some of her knowledge and info regarding poker legislation. She has been at the forefront of the effort to get the poker player’s voices heard by those in government and in the media and is heavily involved in working the daily action plan. Please feel free to post any questions or feedback in this thread, and if you have not already done so please consider joining the Poker Players Alliance today!
Please welcome our guest columnist this month GJS70
Thank you for the great introduction, PapaPyrite! I’m glad to have the opportunity to share information on legislative movement. At the federal level, there are currently two legislative proposals in the House of Representatives regarding online gambling. Rep. John Campbell introduced HR1174, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, on March 17, 2011. Rep. Joe Barton introduced HR2366, the Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011 on June 24, 2011. Both bills have been referred to Committees, but not been sent for markup. There remains hope of getting HR2366, or similar legislation, attached to a bill during this session. If that doesn’t happen, the next opportunity would be the lame duck session at the end of the year. The Cybersecurity Act is our next chance to get a bill attached during this session, so we are pushing hard for this right now. On 4/19/12, three House Representatives have signed up to co-sponsor HR2366. This makes a total of 30 co-sponsors to this bill and indicates that there continues to be support for this bill.
There has been a lot of activity going on at state levels. Nevada and New Jersey have been very active, and I‘ll focus on them for this update. As most of you know, Nevada has already passed legislation for interactive gaming for intrastate players. In January, regulations governing the operation of online poker sites were approved, and more than two dozen casino operators and gaming equipment manufacturers have applied for interactive gaming licenses. Since this is intrastate for now, only people who are physically in NV will be able to play on the sites.
In New Jersey, SB1565 passed through Committee and will allow Internet wagering based out of Atlantic City. This is also an intrastate bill for players located in New Jersey, but does leave the door open for players in other states and those in other countries as well, if the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement determines that it is allowable by federal law. Governor Christie, who vetoed a previous bill, stated that he did not want licensees to operate outside of Atlantic City. SB1565 will have online operators running only out of Atlantic City, and Governor Christie has indicated he is in favor of this bill.
So, as things continue to evolve, it does seem it will be not “if” but “when” online poker will be offered in the US, either at federal or state levels. Some have an opinion that with states beginning to offer online gaming, this will force federal regulation to prevent a patchwork of regulations. Others feel that once states start offering online gaming, the federal government may be reluctant to be involved. I do feel federal regulation will be the best option to allow for large player pools and consistent regulations across the board. I guess time will tell, but it will be interesting to see what happens.
If you want to help with the fight to get online poker regulated, and letting our elected officials know there are a lot of us who care deeply about this issue, please don’t forget to participate in the Daily Action Plan. It’s set up to be quick and easy.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...8/index12.html
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...011-a-1143069/
Belgium bans more Online poker sites
Legal Landscape One Year After Black Friday http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...011-a-1143069/
Belgium bans more Online poker sites
Full Tilt Rebirth Nearing Reality?
Surprise Move by PokerStars to Acquire Full Tilt?
New Jersey Moving on Legal Poker
Utah Opts Out of Federal Poker Legislation
Companies Applying for Nevada Online Poker Licenses
Iowa Poker Bill Stalls
The digest staff hopes you have enjoyed this issue as much as we have enjoyed assembling it. If you have questions, suggestions, or comments about the digest please post them in this thread.
Last edited by AlienSpaceBat; 05-15-2012 at 06:25 PM.
05-15-2012
, 09:02 AM
Excellent work knocking all that together Bona. Particularly enjoyed Hippy/Davids hand histories 
05-15-2012
, 11:15 AM
I really enjoyed the hand reviews by David, thanks Hippy for being the guinea pig 
Thanks to davidv1213 for taking the time to review those hands!
Thanks to davidv1213 for taking the time to review those hands!
05-16-2012
, 05:41 PM
05-16-2012
, 08:53 PM
I agree, I rated it 5*
Readers, if you enjoy this Digest, please take a moment to rate the thread so others will see those gold stars in forum list!
Readers, if you enjoy this Digest, please take a moment to rate the thread so others will see those gold stars in forum list!
05-20-2012
, 05:55 AM
Crossword has me stumped
06-22-2012
, 09:14 PM
06-27-2012
, 07:04 PM
06-27-2012
, 07:20 PM
06-27-2012
, 08:13 PM