You should be good often enough vs Bu range, definitely not too worried about him, CO does have slow played sets but also T9, Kx. He only had to call just over pot size. Seems like a nitty fold to me.

Even though we block AK, btn flatted the pf raise so we can rule it out and KQ too as most 3bet it vs co. Reg is unlikely to jam KQ or worse and T9 seems just as unlikely given that flop is like the nut best for the squeezer, so T9 likely flats. Trivial is exaggerating but even at 25nlz I'd be folding here very often on such a dry board

Regs, or idiots are doing all kind of weird crap these days, the fact he flatted AKs vs co and the squeeze shows that.

I woulda called the AA

mirage it is impossible to become a good player with your attitude and approach to poker btw, if you don't change the way you view poker you will stay mediocre at best

stop qualifying plays of awful and thinking anything done different than you is either awful or idiotic, maybe if you ever make enough money to afford the solver you'll see what I mean

Thanks for your input but I'm already good. I don't care for solvers, and don't believe they are the be all end all, and if they were, there would be a lot more players crushing. They are only 1 aspect of the equation, you still need to know whats up, otherwise your a blind button clicker, like yourself, that's even if you click buttons at all. If you are totally clueless to ranges in specific spots a solver won't help you.

Watched some 200z stream the other day with some alleged pio whiz, claiming spot x was a call based on some assumed balanced villain fantasy range where in reality he was totally crushed and a call would have been awful. I think PIO is probably good or the games because it encourages mediocre regs to do all kinds of stupid plays, so you just pick them off.

if you were already good you would be playing much higher stakes obviously

Everyone else just plays awful and that's why he can't move up! If he could run good just one time...

<3

Hahahahaa mirage the was funny. Guy is checkraising an overpair when in theory he shouldn't and getting min 3bet which is a call and getting shoved on which is a fold tho he finds the call. I think the funniest part is the other guy is saying gii on the flop.

These guys are clearly good players but the situation you are talking about was hella funny with the pocket 88 because pio doesn't even get into that spot to begin with. JJ is a call in that spot just because you cant overfold.

I wouldn't mind differences in opinion but the arrogance some people have is ridiculous. Calling people whales because they play lower and using pio to justify plays in spots where even the solver doesn't agree is just ignorance. Thats why I think the only people who don't have a poker ceiling are those who are willing to listen to suggestions and advice from different people without prejudice regardless of peoples current skill level or poker backround.

Thats why I like the video threads in rio becase people like sulsky, forrester, elusivemark,erazer, shifty regularly have discussion and in some cases even admit if they think they misplayed a spot. When they ague a spot they leave their ego behind and never ask someone:lolz what stakes do you play. They just state the theory, assumptions, experience and opinion without saltiness.

I hope once I dont end up as one of these arrogant 200z regs that believe they have memorized pio and that people have to pay me 100+ an h for me to refrain from calling them a whale just for disagreeing.

you know what's also funny? people misusing solvers. actually, its kind of hilarious

Thanks, man, really sick posts!

on H3 yeah, I had an idea that QQ was kinda not good enough to go for bet-jam river, "too thin" in GTO, specially with AK on villain's range. It's nice to see that it bets 50% OTT and 50%-fold OTR a lot. But in practice I think bet-jamming shouldn't have a huge difference in EV from theory.

I think that when the K pairs, it's easy for us to overbluff, and most villains will see that and call more OTT/OTR, specially if they anticipate that we're not going thin with QQ/JJ/TT/AA.


About H5 and cbet sizing, you're right, we can only cbet 33% because a good amount of our range is nutted, giving us a sick range advantage on villain, this effect gets diminished if we add more weak hands into our range, but here is the trick:



The trick here is to abuse the information distortion in that spot, if villain thinks we're playing tighter than we are, then he will be making way more mistakes by overfolding vs our cbet(and turn barrels).

That's the thing that I think is the biggest weakness of the solver approach that started since PIO was released. If villains don't get our range right, we will be able to get away with some exploits, we can go either way: by going looser and making him make folding mistakes or going tighter and making him make calling/bluffing/overplaying mistakes.

So by manipulating pre-flop we can get an edge over people who think we're playing different than we are. Vs my 33% he should start raising a lot OTF, even with 1-pair hands and some bluffs, which people won't do a lot. As well as floating way more than they are.

On the other hand, if we're calling the 3-bet and are facing a 6% 3-bet and villain decides to range 33% on a small board, he is leaking EV by not betting bigger, he has a huge range advantage on all textures and is letting us realize our equity for cheaper. Also there are boards where they range check because "it's bad for their range", while they still have a huge range advantage because of how tight they are pre-flop, so they let us check back for free and realize some backdoor equity/gutshots.

On top of that, a lot of super big folds we make vs those tight guys are closer to GTO than it looks, like folding TT OTT in a 3-bet pot vs a 6% range. We usually are afraid of villain barreling us with AK high as bluff, but if they 3-bet that tight, they should be bluffing with AK in there and there's nothing we can do, because of how strong their range is.

that's why I don't use solvers



btw, the thing I would study the most in a solver if I get into it would be river donking ranges. That's the area I really want to learn and that I think is the most annoying stuff ever to face. Also it's a spot where most fish play closer to gto than regs imo(if they had solid ranges OTT obv)

From pf limp to river donking....all over the place. Ide of the week

I have a problem with this exact statement, not that I think mirage is good or not (he's probably decent fwiw).

Playing whatever higher stake is a function of bankroll (unless you are a degen or were a sunrunner early). It takes a lot of time to build an appropriate br for a higher stake and that takes a lot of time when starting at 2 or 5 NL (as every player should), unless the person starts out rich.

Playing a higher limit doesn't even remotely equal a better player.

This is an awesome post and what I was pretty much getting at above.

If someone worked their way through all the levels with no bankroll shortcuts than they probably are better than someone who plays a lower stake. But poker is poker, and A is A so there is no guarantee that they are objectively a better player, and statements like, "well, if you were good at poker you would be playing higher" are just ignorant over-generalizations in certain cases.

Have you seen the way mirage talks to Rapidash ITT? He deserves all ignorant over-generalizations that are directed towards him.

Tbf, out of all the people being "supportive" here, it's honestly mirage who's had the most input on any of ops hands. At least he's not like mahsjdi who pretends to be supportive by giving you the odd slap on the back with no real input.

I tried my hand at replying to his hands but it's hard to want to give rapid any thoughts on hands because if you point the most obvious thing out, he just defends it to the death because of reads and you just can't comprehend this ****. Not worth it. idk why mirage wastes his time esp. if he can actually win at whatever limit he plays. It's like he just can't resist the temptation to make an ass out of himself.

yeah this about sums it up. Evident from the way OP frames the discussion with "good fold right?" or "wp, right?"

Clearly looking for approval rather than advice.

possible but from what ive read in the thread hes getting better at it.

you should then look at a lot of posts in the thread where I accepted people were right and I was wrong, I think I did it even with mirage's advice like 2 or 3 times here.

btw, got smashed today, runbad came pretty hard and I ended up tilting in one hand, meh. Just after cashing out I hit a -1.5k day. Bankroll is at 7.6k, will drop to 100z on 5k or if I feel I need some confidence/can't win during weekdays at 200z

Some hands

H1: vs reg, is this too nitty? Meh, so annoying OTR, do you guys think people underbluff OTR in that spot? Is this a GTO call?

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 214.45 BB
SB: 138.59 BB
BB: 104 BB
UTG: 132.96 BB
Hero (MP): 100 BB
CO: 103.65 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q K

fold, Hero raises to 2.32 BB, CO raises to 7.46 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 5.14 BB

Flop: (16.42 BB, 2 players) Q A K
Hero checks, CO bets 8 BB, Hero calls 8 BB

Turn: (32.42 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, CO bets 23 BB, Hero calls 23 BB

River: (78.42 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero checks, CO bets 65.19 BB and is all-in, fold

CO wins 77.05 BB


H2: tilt hand, villain was x/r flop in 3-bet pots a lot, on this texture he couldn't rep much, so decided that I wanted to jam with my overpairs and this hand looked like a nice bluff, since calling with AK/AQ is usually better. Was this decent or just ******ed?

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 100.68 BB
SB: 299.23 BB
BB: 92.43 BB
UTG: 455.17 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 198.14 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K J

fold, MP raises to 2.5 BB, fold, Hero raises to 7 BB, fold, fold, MP calls 4.5 BB

Flop: (15.5 BB, 2 players) 5 6 5
MP checks, Hero bets 4.88 BB, MP raises to 17.12 BB, Hero raises to 93.68 BB and is all-in, MP calls 75.89 BB and is all-in

Turn: (201.5 BB, 2 players) Q

River: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 4
Players agreed to run it twice.

Turn #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 7

River #2: (201.5 BB, 2 players) 6



H3: Annyoing river spot vs tight reg, OTR I felt he shouldn't donk-jam AQ, I had a ton of incentive to bluff in there. Is this a fold or a call? I'm totally lost in these donk spots, specially on blanks. I was 3-betting him quite often and making annoying plays vs him, so I thought he could be tilted

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 121.89 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 155.01 BB
UTG: 146.04 BB
MP: 34.91 BB
Hero (CO): 104.58 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K Q

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls 6 BB

Flop: (19.5 BB, 2 players) 7 4 Q
UTG checks, Hero bets 6.14 BB, UTG calls 6.14 BB

Turn: (31.77 BB, 2 players) 7
UTG checks, Hero bets 22.8 BB, UTG calls 22.8 BB

River: (77.36 BB, 2 players) A
UTG bets 108.11 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 66.65 BB and is all-in




H4: math problem here lol. Is this a call? OTF I thought raising wouldn't help much, since I had no FE, also it was good to keep the cold caller in the pot for some extra money when I hit my draw. I was folding on turns that would pair the board.

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 75.93 BB
SB: 185.82 BB
BB: 119.61 BB
UTG: 36.01 BB
MP: 376.97 BB
Hero (CO): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J K

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, SB calls 3.5 BB, fold, UTG raises to 10 BB, Hero calls 6 BB, SB calls 6 BB

Flop: (31 BB, 3 players) 7 5 2
SB checks, UTG bets 11 BB, Hero calls 11 BB, SB raises to 34 BB, UTG calls 15.01 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 23 BB

Turn: (125.01 BB, 3 players) 8
SB bets 141.82 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 56 BB and is all-in



H5: Should I fold the river? the Kc is soooooo good as a blocker

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 131.58 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 660 BB
UTG: 210.17 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 100 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

fold, MP raises to 2.13 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, MP calls 6.87 BB

Flop: (19 BB, 2 players) 4 7 A
Hero bets 5.98 BB, MP calls 5.98 BB

Turn: (30.95 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, MP bets 16.27 BB, Hero calls 16.27 BB

River: (63.48 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, MP bets 68.76 BB and is all-in, fold

MP wins 62.11 BB


H6: vs unknown shaping to be a fish, but not a whale. Is this a call? I expect fish to spazz some vs the check OTT, but also valuebet any A too. He was looking fold happy, so decided to 3-bet pre and put some pressure

PokerStars - $2 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB
Hero (SB): 100.5 BB
BB: 117.6 BB
UTG: 126.1 BB
MP: 102.86 BB
CO: 100 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 3 A

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, fold, MP calls 8 BB

Flop: (23 BB, 2 players) 9 A 5
Hero bets 7.24 BB, MP calls 7.24 BB

Turn: (37.47 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, MP bets 18 BB, Hero calls 18 BB

River: (73.47 BB, 2 players) T
Hero checks, MP bets 36 BB, Hero calls 36 BB

H1. He needs to be triple barrelling 67 and 78s without hearts 50% for this to be a half a bb call. I doubt people are finding these bluffs. Then again if hes bluffing all his fd with a pair ott and following through (either of those when he should do both only 50%) then it becomes a half bb call again. Too many assumtions including an assumption of 10.5% 3bet to try to hero .5bb . Id just call when villain is very spewy.

H2. wtf mate I dont even think your play is that horrible given reads you even blocked JJ and KK slowplay. Im only half serious tho, Its probly pretty darn bad but you were right lol. wtf was he doing tho?

H3. when someone donks on a card that's good for your range game over man no matter how fishy it seems

H4. its actually a call vs his range for slightly less than 1/4 pot. I thought you an engineer . You wanted to yell ''get there'' at your computer

H5. hes calling 3bet ip so he has all the 6combos fh too. If he is flatting AK around 35% of the time and correctly value shoving it 40-50% of the time + finding all the correct bluffs like turning JJc into a bluff ott 75% and following thru river a 100% AKc is the bottom of your calling range for like 7bb ev.
KKc is only slightly losing with these assumptions but calling it turns you into a station and these assumptions being slightly wrong, my guess is you will lose alot.

H6.If hes bluffing correctly with his non showdownable pairs and other crap trying to get you off KK-JJ vs these sizings its a winning call. I feel like people may even overbluff this so I think call is good. Problem is if fish call all their pp otf correctly, however if this might be compensated by him overcalling bs bd stuff tryna spike smthg.
vs a larger turn sizing and river shove its significantly losing and given he plays perfectly you need to call AQ+ only even with a 95% range check of your trips.

Although if you have a read someone is passive or hes assuming your checking only weak hands OTT and uses that sizing ''incorrectly'' to explo milk you then always fold obviously.

I think rapidesh takes criticism pretty well, and I wouldn't generalize WorldzMine, it was specifically directed at mirage, dude has been around for 5 years, he has no excuses for still being stuck at low stakes

Thx, yadroolah, love your posts, so good to hear those plays werent that bad. Will look for more hands from this session to post tomorrow, there are some that are terrible but couldnt find them

Btw, out of curiosity, what stakes do you play? If you want a sweat session I can do it, will probably take some time off the tables to study this week.

Maybe I should just make a new account and pretend I play high stakes?

I know its a waste of time but its entertaining, and rapids just too bad to resist.


Ok lets see.

H1. Good fold.

H2. Looked like he was playing his hand perfectly, rather than check calling his life away with a draw oop. Question is what rapidfish was doing, he didn't even beat villains draws. Obviously terrible.

H3. Tilting but clear fold.

H4. Bit of a mess. I'm actually folding pre vs that line because its heavily KK+. I would be raising flop to iso the ss and knock out the cold caller, because you just have K high. When you get raised I think you have to take your equity on the flop, because nothing good will happen on turns, and your just in a worse spot as you were.


H6. Fold pre. oop, dominated Ax, how is that plus ev.