In.

Thanks. Feel free to discuss any hands would be good if we could both move up some levels this year.

how many hands did you play so far MartL?

Total? This Year? NL50?

At NL50 im up to 26K at the moment but Ive only played 1400 this year so far.

GL Martin!

In regards to your 3 betting Axs hands comment. I rarely 3 bet them unless it's to 5 bet jam over the 4 bet that I know is coming with a high frequency or I have some other specific reason. In a vacumn, I'd rather call or fold than 3 bet Axs, especially vs unknowns since I don't have the info on they play postflop, which puts me at a severe disadvantage if they call. Axo is only a 3bet if villain folds to 3 bets with a high frequency and it has to be spot specific, not a generalized fold to 3 bet stat. Obviously every hands/player is different so for me to say I never 3 bet Axs or Axo is wrong, I just prefer to call with them

Also, another really important factor is the raise size you are facing. There's a significant difference in how I react with an Axs hand (or any hand) when facing a 2x raise vs a 3x raise.

Thanks.

I remember you saying something along the lines of not just having to know how often they fold but having a good idea what their continuing range looks like when deciding what hands to 3bet.

I think that was the big thing when people say about 3betting Ax, in that the spots Im mainly talking about I will often be calling with them because Im up against a wide range and feel that I can play better post flop to make the hands profitable for me so they are then too strong to 3bet as a bluff. I guess erring on the side of caution is better then until we get some reads on players.

The raise sizings and how to react to them is something that really has me stumped. Like a lot of my BTN opens will be 2.5x or even 2x and I often see people 3bet quite small so I will call where I think its appropriate but when thats flipped around and its myself facing the small raise Im never really certain on what sizings to go for.

For the same reason if I size compared o the open size then Im giving the villains pretty good odds to call with a wider range but then if I go too big then Im risking too much when Im bluffing. Any pointers on this? How would we go about trying to put together a pretty solid range against certain villains once we have reads on them in these spots?

My thoughts about 3bet Axs:
3bet Axs is good vs for example MP raisor. He has decent range in MP and you do not want to call Axs as he dominates your hand. But depending on his post flop play and his fold to 3bet tendency, you can turn your hand into profit in these spots, where you typicaly folded. There are more spots, where it is good to 3bet these hands. Assume EP reg range 22+, AJs+,AQo+ who do not like to fold to 3bet pre but play fit or fold postflop. You can get more value by 3bet him pre and push him out of pot after flop instead of flating your hand imho. Is this thinking bad?

Personally Im not too keen in general on 3betting EP opens as a bluff as this seems to be the position where most people defend there opens by either calling or raising.

Ive played a few sessions here and there and seem to have been sucked out a lot on like I had KK all in pre vs 95o only for the 95o to turn 2 pair, Ive also seen someone call a massive 3bet with 42s, flop a FD and shove the flop and river the flush but managed to do this to someone in my last couple of hands today:-

Villain is a fish and its a pretty standard spot I feel.



Villain is 11/7 after about 300 hands, again pretty straightforward and his range is pretty face up but I dont do too bad against it.



This one is a bit strange. Villain is really loose so far and has been 3betting quite a bit. I would have been fine stacking pre.




His lead confused me a bit and then his check says Im probably good but its tough to get called by worse with the Q falling and then his check on the river it was a case of trying to work out what he could call. Villain tank called so I probably got it about right.

Villain in this one hadnt played many hands but looked like a bit of a fish.




It just shows there is plenty of money to be made at these levels if you can just keep your head in the game. Update of how NL50 is treating me at the moment is that Ive played 29K hands and running at 6.23bb/100. Its not exactly where I want to be at and know that I can do a lot better as Im still making a lot of light calls and not folding in some spots that I probably should be. Still plenty of work to be done.

I thought it might be a good idea to come up with a default template I could use when posting hands. What I came up with is below and this way I feel might get me thinking more about my actions in the hand and more about what a villains actual range is.


Villain Stats:
Relevant Reads:

Other Villain Stats:
Any Other Info:

My Image If Applicable:



Thought Process:

Villains Range Through The Hand:

JJ: My first thought was your river bet is too small but yeah, we want to get a crying call from TT/AK.

The HH template seems reasonable. Just make sure it's still clear where is the previous hand ending and where is the next one starting.

Yeah I think that was the problem when I posted my last bunch of hands. I used to put my thoughts at the top of the post before the hand and it basically means nothing to any reader until they have seen the hand so I started to put them at the bottom a bit. I have tried to get the big blue line across the bottom as well as near the top but cant quite figure out what is making that.

Maybe something like this might be easier to read:-
Thought Process And Villains Range:-

Pre:

Flop:

Turn:

River:

Yeah, it's fine and clear.

Sub'ed and GL!!

Thanks. I really should discuss hands more on here but sometimes time is an issue.

I've just started mixing in some 50nl tables and there doesn't seem to be all that much to be concerned about. Using up all my rungood at 25nl at the moment so I've been slapped about by variance a little at 50nl and I'm down for now. Very small sample though and 25nl is keeping me in profit.

I see you posted on someone's coaching thread. Let me know how that goes for you.

Thanks.

Right, here goes.

Thought Process And Villains Range:-

Pre:

Flop:Betting for value maybe could go a bit bigger. I think villain continues with any Jx/4x/PP`s/Possibly Broadways.

Turn:Again still betting for value. I think villains range narrows to Jx/4x and PP`s like 55+.

River:When he leads Im expecting to see Jx nearly all the time so I think its a pretty straight forward fold.

Yeah just a general enquiry really. I saw you had coaching with him as well, how did that go? Whats your thoughts on him and if he can improve your game?

I dont think the levels play that different and on Stars theres a ton of fish about and I think we can probably get good results by not changing our games too much from what we were doing at NL25.

All the best.

Do you not think you're committing yourself to calling off ott no matter what card it is if he jams by calling otf? If were willing to get it in pre then why didn't you raise all in on the flop seeing as how it's obviously a very safe flop?

What hands now call if I shove over his flop bet? I maybe at a push get called by TT, the rest of his calling range likely beats me. It may be a safe flop but by raising I play against the very top of his range imo. The queen on the turn is a weird card because if it were a low one and he checked to me I would have made a pretty small bet hoping he spazzed out. I now think If I bet the turn its pretty tough to get called by worse.

If the turn was a blank and he shoved would you have folded?

I would probably have called. I do think he has more bluffs in his range if he takes that line given how he looks so far.

Villain is a passive fish and this looks like a typical value line from him with Jx. Calling down so he doesn't scare you off (in his opinion) and then the big bet on the river to try to get more value. He's not gonna be turning a lower pair into a bluff here and there's not much else that he could have on the river that he may (very occasionally) spazz out with.

I made the mistake of playing tired last night and made a couple of really stupid plays that made me feel a bit tilty. The feeling only lasted a few seconds but it just goes to show if I am not in the right frame of mind to play then I probably shouldnt play.

I ended the session up just over half a buy in and up over a buy in for the day but It should of been more as I made a stupid call against a shove when I opened in EP against a loose guy in MP who obviously showed up with AA and then I tried check/raising a nit on the turn and got shoved on. Both FPS and both cost me money so a little bit disappointing with that.

Today Im going to be going through some of my hands where I have faced a 3bet in LP battles and also some spots where I have bet the turn where I probably should either be check/folding or maybe check/calling.

QQ: WP but make it a bit bigger OTF.

Just played my most brutal session of NL50 yet which lasted 400 or so hands before tilt breaker put me out of my misery. 400 hands went to showdown 21% of the time with a 0% W$SD. Thats right not a single winner at SD.

I hate the way I played some of the hands but theres others where theres simply nothing I can do. So here we go:-


Villain is 58/21 over 24 hands.



Thought on the river that if I made it small enough then I wouuld get calls from his likely Jx.

This hand I hate lots and lots:-

Villain is 34/21 over 38



Not sure why I raised the river here. He snaps it off which just suggests to bluff less and value bet more. I certainly should bet bigger than I do in some spots with value hands because people simply cant fold.


Villain here is 47/7 over 17.



Again I think the river is a clear value bet aiming at worse Ax.

Villain is 33/7 after 31.



Next time this happens please just fold the flop. I mean theres so many cards Im going to hate.

Villain looks like a reg in this one.



AK turned in to a bluff in this one:-








Luckily Im not tilting or anything and feel pretty meh over it all, theres going to be sessions where you cant catch a break so just got to work through it.