May well be.

Right and thats the whole point really. In that example when we hold KJo and on K high flop, we are so far ahead of the villains range, combined with his perspicacity to stack off with top pair hands, this has to be pushed hard.

Where traditional logic (tight is right) would have had us folding the trouble hand KJo from the blinds.

Think of it another way since blinds seem to be too prominent in peoples minds when talking about this.

Let play a variation of NLHE, where we will play this hand versus the villain used in the prior example, but this time, there is no position. Instead a coin is flipped and playing order is assigned at each point in the betting rounds (pre flop, flop, turn, and river), heads goes first. This is a magical coin that will always balance out its flips so no one player goes last more than the other.

Because the position is randomized, there can be no positional advantage... We hold KJo, do we change our play versus this villain? I think the answer is always no. The relative skill differential is our randomizer for positional disadvantage, as such we should not alter our play when either player has a positional advantage or disadvantage. If the skill gap is big enough we will always be profitable versus the villain regardless of the position.

It's fair to say that you can overcome a positional disadvantage if/when your opponent is ignorant to the concept of positional advantage.

A player who doesn't grasp position does not understand how to use it against you in the first place.

You are saying that KJ is going to be +EV in showdowns against his range? Or is your skill edge so great that he is sometimes folding hands that beat you? and is that even on a K hi flop?

No it isn't. He benefits from being in late position even if he has no idea that's the reason he gets to take a free card.

No its much more than that. It is summed up with the hero have a very significant skill advantage, rather the villain has 0 or perfect knowledge of position. Understanding and being able to use knowledge of position is just one element of many that make up "skill".

Reference the example where the MTT player (aka villain) who will always open in MP+ with Ax, Kx, Qx, and Jx, especially if they are suited and tends to stack off for <=100BB with any top pair hand.

This does not mean the villain either does does not understand position, it implies he does, as he doesn't open that ranged of hands from MP-. The major skill difference here is having a solid understanding of hand value and understanding the hand ranges and their value. Obviously the hero has a very significant advantage over the villain in this regard.

I play connected paint and pairs and Axs. That's my range for completing in 2/5 or 3/5.

That some small percentage of the time we can force a better hand out, e.g. KJo vs A3ss on a Q94r board. But we also have near perfect information because we accurately read his range and know his tendencies when he has a hand.

To a greater extent we are counting on the times that we dominate the villain utterly, e.g. Hero has KJo, and the villains range has been narrowed based on available information during the play of to primarily Kx where x= 2 to A with KQ and KA less likely and throw in some balance like mid PP that will continue. So more times that not in this situation we stack the villain for hopefully as close to 100BB as possible. This single win should more than make up for losses where we call and fold, or buff and fold, or call, float, fold, etc, etc. As long as we are practicing good pot control based on our understanding of hand ranges and their value, a ~100BB should show a nice profit. We also need to consider the rare times that we lose to two pair or a better TP hand, but as a percentage these should be very small considering combinations of Kx, Kx suited, Ax Ax suited and so on versus our "top of the range" KJ+ and AT+ hands.

You can make a case for such situations with many "trouble" hands, e.g. AT, KQ, and so on that if we were to follow the traditional "tight is right" that we would not play if we are in a positional disadvantage. But because we have such a great disparity in skill sets in the long run we are +EV with trouble hands versus this villain regardless of position.

So when we stack the villain when we dominate him, release our hands where we are relatively sure we are not winning a showdown and can not fold out a better hand, plus the small percentage of the time that we win < a AI pot when we fold out a better hand, over the course of our play versus this villain we should show a significant profit regardless of position.

Long story short...

Hero wins the BBJ today for $25K

...loving life right now

Are you going pro now? omg I'm so happy for ya.

Gratz, stay away from electrical storms

Congrats buddy....my turn next!

congrats KUD!

deets?

Sweet!

a little late but congrats

Already stated but congrats again buddy!

KUD - old buddy, old pal. Would you mind hooking me up with a bit of a loan?
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I need about tree fitty.

That kicks assss

Nice hit. That's poker . . . in some casinos.

Skill game.

UTG ($5/$10 reg, better than avg girl w/$1300+) calls $5, UTG+1 (middle aged Asian fish w/~$150) calls $5, MP (tight reg, Asian girl w/~$200) calls $5, Hero (CO, sLAG, shown down some odd winners w/~$1350) raises to $30 w/AcQh, Villain (BTN, super tight Korean, middle aged, never seen before today w/~$350) calls $30, Blinds fold, UTG, UTG+1 and MP all call $25

- right away I'm leary of the Korean guy's call and figure it's probably a big hand
- UTG most likely has a PP
- fish could have anything
- MP's range is also pretty wide

Flop: AhKs3d
$157 (5 Players) checks to Hero who bets $80, Villain calls $80, everyone else folds

- when it's checked to me I figure that I'm often good so it's time to get value from weaker aces, kings and stubborn PP's (and also fold out anyone with any amount of pot equity - capitalization of dead money)
- if any of the larger stacks play back at me I'd most likely cut bait and sail (as the board is incredibly dry)
- when Villain calls me I instantly feel that I'm dead (what am I beating now?)

Turn: Ad
$317 (2 Players) Hero checks, Villain bets $60, Hero calls

- now I know I'm behind almost every hand in this guy's range
- I'm thankful for the opportunity to draw to $25K for $60 (yes, it was on my mind)
- Villain only had $175 left so I might make a crying call on the river anyway (but I sincerely put him on a boat)

River: Qc
$437 (2 Players) Hero bets $175+ and is all in, Villain calls $175...

- what a beautiful river
- any hand I'm losing to gives me the BBJ and everything else I'm ahead of

...Hero says, "Tell me u have AK!" Villain turns over AK and Hero starts jumping up and down, the table goes crazy, the whole poker room makes their way over to the table AND the Korean guy is just sitting there. Villain says, "but I won." and I'm like, "fcukin' right u won... U just won $12000!" and the Korean guy says, "No way... but I still get the pot right?"

lol

Sweet score.

Villain says, "but I won." and I'm like, "fcukin' right u won... U won $12000!" and the Korean guy says, "No way... but I still get the pot right?"

winning.jpg

Nice one, KUD!

KUD = epic winning
Korean guy = bi-winning (he won the pot, and $12000)

not to ruin the celebratory atmosphere, but..

i'm still confused about this. why do people assign tighter raising ranges on dry boards? it only makes sense if you think people raise draws with any regularity.