***** Official Dumb Questions Thread ****

[sixfour]

I'd just shove the flop, that's an enormous draw

Outs are 15, don't double count those that give a straight and flush at the same time

[N2Benjamins]

15 outs
Spades A34567JQK
7's - 3
Q's - 3

Does position or stage or tourny effect the shove response for this low level of game?
I've got the red Sklansky book - Small Stakes Hold'em if you want to send me to a page about this.
Thank you

[Benrun]

Originally Posted by Cry Me A River

If you have a question you think is too dumb (or too short) for its own thread, go ahead and post it here. Don't be shy!! We were all n00bs once.

If you do start a thread, that's fine too, we're pretty casual in this forum. But hopefully this thread will catch a bunch of the simpler repetitive questions that come all the time and are easily answered.

There are two resources you should be aware of, the first is the Beginners Forum Frequently Asked Questions.

The other is WCGRider's excellent Need Help? Ask me thread.

That covers a lot of ground and should get you started, but if you're still lost, confused, or have questions, this is the place to be!

Hello 2+2, i have nooo idea if im posting this in the right place so please forgive me if im not. I started working as a poker dealer about 18 months ago before this time i knew very little about poker, just the logistics. As soon as i started dealing i wanted to play so like MANY dealers i started blowing a small chunk of my wage on various sites ( funding the scandnavian economy as my brother likes to think!)...in addition i also started playing live just smallish 1-1 1-2 games. I dont know the exact amount but i can guess iv lost about 4k...now this may sound vvstupid, but the way in which i have played this was always gunna happen..by that i mean i always just wanted to " Spin It" ...playing short stack online and moving up as soon as i had doubled up etc. Now at the time i had no problem with this..i understood what i was doing but just enjoyed the gamble.Now however i want to invest my time, money and effort into getting better...and hopefully one day GOOD X.So here is the point of this post.. I want to know what games i should be playing to build a solid foundation for my game? sit n gos? cash? mtts? live? online? is there anypoint playing as low as 1c 2 c and grinding?. I have been watching alot of vids on Deuces Cracked and reading a few books so feel this would be a good time to throw myself into it!

Cheers 2+2 ers

Ben

UK

[Nuca-Cola]

Do we ever bluff when we play ABC poker? Is cbet a part of ABC poker? What ABC poker is? Is it value betting good hands and check/folding bad hands?

[cpzshft]

Originally Posted by Nuca-Cola

Do we ever bluff when we play ABC poker? Is cbet a part of ABC poker? What ABC poker is? Is it value betting good hands and check/folding bad hands?

By Haseeb Qureshi

ABC Poker:

Distilled to its essence, ABC poker is a simple idea. It's a model of a solid game that is concise, simplified, and easy to use. ABC poker needs to be 3 things:

1) It needs to be easy to learn and implement
2) It must be +EV and easy to understand why it's +EV
3) It must minimize variance

Simply, ABC poker is a non-complex approach to playing with generally static preflop ranges and betting standards. It involves making very basic adjustments, and playing hands postflop in a simple way (little to no slowplaying or tricky play).

The reason why ABC poker is so good for small stakes players to learn is because ABC poker is very easy to implement and get working for you, and it'll create results very quickly. The overall strategy is made to be +EV against the average microstakes table, and although it's always going to be far from optimal, it will never be in a bad spot except in a very strong game. It does well against almost any type of opponent, and it gives you a good springboard upon which to learn more complex approaches to the game.

When we talk about ABC though, we're generally referring to the ABC game that you learn when you begin playing the smallest stakes. There is a sense in which there is also an ABC game at 5/10, which is the game that 95% of regs have in common (i.e., there is a large % of all spots which most every regular will play essentially the same), and we refer to the sum of these spots as "ABC play," which in the same way is optimized to be maximally +EV against the average opponent. Of course, it's harder to learn and more complex than the 5c/10c ABC game, but the idea is the same. It's a springboard on top of which the real "games" are played.

[tsunamoney]

I get confused by how strategy differs for all the different variations of HE (no-limit, tournament, $2-$10 spread limit, $3-$6 limit, etc.). So my question is, I'm currently interested in playing a live $2-$40 spread limit full table game .5-$1 blinds and would like to know which books on strategy would be best for this format. I generally understand tournament strategy doesn't work well in cash games and vice versa, but would like to zero in on $2-$40 spread limit for now...any advice on a good book or way to focus on the proper strategy for the specific type of HE being played would be appreciated.

[chode]

What exactly does '$ (EV Adjusted)' mean in the reports tab of HM? Is it all ins only? I notice it goes down if I suck out and up if I get sucked out on. Is the idea that it will be close to your profit in the long run?

[DrVanNostrin]

You have the right idea. Let's say we get all-in in a $100 pot and I have 49% equity you have 51%. Instead of running out the board and seeing who wins, I'll just take $49 and you take $51 (our fair share of equity). If that's how all-ins were played then all-in EV would equal actual results.

[chode]

Originally Posted by DrVanNostrin

You have the right idea. Let's say we get all-in in a $100 pot and I have 49% equity you have 51%. Instead of running out the board and seeing who wins, I'll just take $49 and you take $51 (our fair share of equity). If that's how all-ins were played then all-in EV would equal actual results.

AH ok. Let's say we shove after the river, and you have the nuts and I have the second nuts. Your $ev would be 100% of the pot? or 100% of the money shoved on the river?

[DrVanNostrin]

All-in EV will be the same as actual results if they aren't any more cards to come. In your example I'd have 100% equity and I'd get 100% of the pot every time, so that would create no differential.

[ip916a4bb]

what does it mean when people say they need to be bluffing x% to be profitable in this situation? Can anyone give an example of this? Thanks

[DrVanNostrin]

"My opponent needs to be bluffing 30% of the time for calling to be profitable."

or

"I need to be bluffing 30% of the time or I'll be exploitable."

[chode]

Originally Posted by DrVanNostrin

All-in EV will be the same as actual results if they aren't any more cards to come. In your example I'd have 100% equity and I'd get 100% of the pot every time, so that would create no differential.

Cool DR. Thanks. I read in a Faq somewhere about not posting graphs ect. in a certain forum. It also said something about not berating player in the forum because the $EV is almost always lower than the profit of even a good player. Can this be right? I'll try to find it. Maybe I read it wrong.

[DrVanNostrin]

On average all-in EV will equal actual results. When you catch good, results > all-in EV; when you catch bad, results < all-in EV. Over a large sample there's a 50% chance all-in EV > results.

The graph you're probably thinking of is showdown winnings vs. non-showdown winnings. In games where players are too loose most of your profits will come from making the best hand and getting value. If this is where your profits come from your SD winnings will be huge and your non-SD winnings could be negative. If your opponents are folding too much it would be the other way around.

[chode]

Originally Posted by ip916a4bb

what does it mean when people say they need to be bluffing x% to be profitable in this situation? Can anyone give an example of this? Thanks

I am not the person to be explaining this but I give give you a small rundown.

My example is facing a river bet in position you have top pair, or a bluff catcher on a drawish board.

100$ in pot he bets 10$ if he is bluffing 30% of the time then...

30% of the time you win a pot of 110$ if you call

70% of the time you will lose 10$

110x.3 = 33
10x.7 = 7 33-7 = 26

So in this example you will be making 26 dollars every time you call.(average)
So in this example villain would have to be bluffing a lot in this spot for the call not to be profitable.

I dunno maybe get someone a little more experienced to explain this. I was just trying...