Hey guys I've been playing poker on and off for the last two years, I've never had any consistent success over any significant amount of time. I've had my +20 buy in runs in live poker but that is usually followed by a larger downswing. That is something I wish to change. Ever since the pandemic I've been stuck inside so I've been getting back into poker and plan to work on strategy in the micros until my local casino opens back up. I have a few questions.

I have a general understanding of ranges but what I don't understand about a lot of poker videos is the way poker players balance their ranges. Now I'm not talking about super advanced river situations. I'm talking about a simple winning strategy against your typical $2/$3 live reg and micro-stakes tables.

Lets keep specific hands out this question and focus on Flop textures and what I should be betting vs checking as the aggressor. Here are a couple scenarios
(lets assume all players are 100bb deep and are unknowns. In multi-way pots I'm only betting for value so lets focus on heads up)

action:
Hero(BTN) raises to 3bb, Villain(BB) calls.
Flop A59 rainbow
Villain checks, Hero???

How should I balance my strategy here to keep my checking range strong but make sure I'm not c-betting too often? is this a sound strategy? also how should my strategy change if I open over a limp OOP and get 1 caller.

TP good kicker: bet
TP low kicker: check
Mid or bottom pair: check
Top set: check
mid or bottom set: bet
any two pair: bet
gut shot with BD flush draw: bet and barrel turn on cards that help me
gut shot with no flush draw: check
Mid or bottom pair with BD flush draw: check and barrel turn on cards that help me
Air: check all the way down / give up to aggression.

Another scenario on a wet connected board that favors villains calling range

Hero(UTG) opens to 3bb, villain(SB) calls
Flop: Js9h8h
villain check, hero???

In this spot I'd probably c-bet with any made hands that are vulnerable and check any strong draws or over pairs with back door potential.

Also when it comes to balancing c-bets should I have all this in my head before a session or is this just something that you balance in game. I know it is a good strategy to have a plan for the hand before you put any money in but do I really need to have a pre-set plan for every possible flop texture?

There's a COTM from several years ago on cbetting:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...tting-1550652/

See the COTM post for a general discussion. On the specific boards you mention, A95 rainbow is a very villain dependent flop. Against loose fit/fold villain you might want to bet this flop nearly 100%. Against nits with an ace heavy range you might just give up a lot. Things get weird when playing somebody who knows something about poker because it is a classic c-bet flop so people who play poker a lot will call lighter. This forces you to c-bet a bit less and plan to barrel turn more.

As for your second board, just give up your air against an unknown. There is no telling where you stand on this board and with no idea how your opponent plays no reason to get into some guessing game.

Honestly, youre on the right track. If you're thinking about these concepts then I promise you that you can beat any 2/3 game. The COTM's are great and almost universally timeless. Great suggestions, but just think about how your entire range interacts with board textures versus your opponents. Thats basically all it takes to be great at this game. Then you ask yourself questions like can my opponent adjust and call lighter? Can he recognize my frequencies? is he playing his cards? Can I be exploitative and be super imbalanced because he wont adjust? How can I maximally exploit? Then if your opponent is super good all the work you can do later to understand GTO concepts will guide you.

To answer your last question.. Yes. You should, but that comes with a lot of work away from the tables where you get a solver or break out a pencil and map game trees yourself. Then you rinse and repeat all you can at the micros and you will print money live. Gl

Or... alternatively you can show up and play extremely boring and value oriented and still print a lot of money in 2020. Keep it simple. If youre thinking about these things youre 2 levels ahead of 95 percent of the 2/3 pool.

You're trying to create a playbook and that just wont work. Poker is too dynamic, you need to understand who you're up against and what their intention is. Generally speaking you want to bet with hands that have decent equity. Anything that can beat a single pair type hand one the flop is dealt since that will consist of the bulk of your opponents holding. Overcards, backdoor draws, bottom pair, etc. These are all hands which if improved will almost always be the winner. As long as your odds keep improving then you keep betting. The times where you cant bet are usually going to be multi-way or when you've lost the initiative (typically someone raising, either HU or multiway). In those situations your equity better be damn near 50% to continue, in all the others you can get away with as little as 12% because you'd be surprised how much FE you have as long as you can continue on the turn. The only story live players understand is "does he have a hand or not". They dont think in terms of ranges, just in terms of bets.

Javi is correct. Table dynamics are also moving. I'll bet with two napkins if I sense the table is tired and just folding to any bets.

There's an old Full Tilt Poker ad where Gus Hanson says he could be playing several different ways, then asks, "which Gus will I be tonight? You decide."

And this one: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...etting-447771/

Thanks, new to the forum so didn't know that existed. Tons of helpful info.

live you dont play enough hands with someone to have to worry much about balancing. when you balance you are giving up some of your earn to try to fool others.
make the optimum bet each time and go from there.

as said in live poker most decisions are player dependent. especially c-betting.