After following other threads for the last few months by players like Butterflysymmetry and Gobbledegeek (sorry if I misspelled) and in the attempt to keep myself engaged with other people who like to discuss poker, I'm going to do this thing and see where it goes.

About me: Minnesota born and bread, just turned 40 a couple of months ago. Married with one daughter. Been playing poker for the better part of 15 years. Started out on Pokerstars. Dumped my last $30 while on mega tilt into a deep stack tourney and took 3rd for something like $2500, and used that to pay for my girl's engagement/wedding ring. Had almost nothing to do with poker since Black Friday till about 2 years ago. I got sick of losing at the live tables, feeling completely confused about what I wanted to do in certain situations or with certain board textures/run outs. About 6 months ago, I hired a poker coach who gave me the tools to at least be a competent poker player now.

What I would like to do with this thread is talk/ argue (always respectfully of course) poker concepts, hands, and things like PT4 filters and whatever else comes to mind.

Thanks in advance to all readers and comments.

I'll start by just putting down some of the info that I paid for. Why? Cause the dude is putting a lot of this stuff out for free all of a sudden any way. Can't say I'm real happy about paying $450 bucks for a good amount of the things he's posting for free now, but it's his thing, so what ever.


I play almost entirely online (bankroll and new job considerations for the time being). Mostly 02./.05,.05/.10 and some .10/.25, with tourneys $1-$5 buy ins. I have played some $1/$2 live with some small money live tourneys mixed in. I admit, nothing special. Just giving a little background.

DEFAULT PREFLOP OPENING RANGE.

So far, I think this is the MOST important thing I learned from my coach. Having a solid, balanced opening range preflop can make life a helluva lot easier for you and your post flop decisions. The second most important thing I learned was--DON'T OPEN LIMP, like NEVER. You are immediately giving up any initiative you might gain by raising, and you are also saying that my cards are not good enough to raise with, but I don't really want to fold these either, so I'll just limp and HOPE nobody else behind me raises. These are the ranges I have used for the last 6 months and they have really worked well for me. I use these for full ring and tourneys. Adjust some for 6 max tables. (something I want to talk about later)

UTG---77+, AK, AQs+ 5.1%
UTG1--66+, AQ, AJs+ 6.8%
MP1---55+, AJ, KQs+ 8.5%
MP2---22+, AJ, KQ+ 10.7%
HJ-----22+, QJ+ 13.1%
CO----22+, BW, 54s-109s, J9s-A9s 21%
BTN---22+, BW, SC 54+, 1 GAP SC 64+, Axs 24%
SB----RAISE ONLY 1010+, AQ+

ISO RANGE
I'm supposed to use range to limper's left, but I have found decent success with most suited BWs and AXs.

OVERLIMP from the CO or BTN ONLY
22-88 (cutoff at 99) A2s-AJs, 54s-QJs, KJs, 1 gap SC and 2 gap SC

Default 3 BET (must have minimum 150 BBs (200+ works best))
66+, A10+,KQ+, Suited BW, A2s-A5s

These ranges have helped me more than just about anything else that I've read/ studied. I have since come up with what I think is a half way decent 3 bet call range, but that can be for another day.

comments, thoughts?

I play live so my experience will likely differ from the online players, but the 3 betting range is too loose for live imo. People love to see flops so 3 betting with 66-TT is likely a bit too light imo.

Other than your 3 betting range everything else looks solid.

Thanks for the info OP!

What's your short term goals for poker?

Sub'd ofc, glgl!

I've only been comfortable using this a couple of times, after seeing same V raise rather wide and being dumb enough to show. There seem to always be at least one or two nit wits like that to be taken advantage of. (in my limited live experience)

This is a real good 3 bet range online. Especially once I get 200 BBs deep. I find it funny that people give you credit a lot more when you have 150 BBs+

I don't really know how much info is here, seems like any half way decent poker player knew this a year or two ago, maybe longer.


Short term goals? Never thought about it to be perfectly honest. I've never been the goal setting type. What ever it is that I decide to do, I've always just tried to do the best I can with what I know. Of course, I'm always trying to pick up something from other people, learn a critical concept, or sometimes, just a new way of thinking about situations that I have run into over and over again. ( fresh perspective, if you will) Other than that, my only other "goals" would be to make some money to move up levels. I don't see a big difference in play between .02/.05 and .10/.25, I think it's more a matter of BR management for me at this point.

So for anyone who hasn't read it, I was one of a couple of players who advocated a 3 bet from the SB in the K10s thread. (5 or 6 months ago) It turned into the thread that would not die. I guess it got a lot of people talking, good or bad, I don't know. I have kinda gone back and forth in my head about this. On one hand, if I'm deep enough, against a V who opens too wide, I can't see a reason NOT to 3 bet light, even if OOP. Most of my reasoning for the 3 bet revolved around me not wanting to just call, and play this passively OOP. I have since been working on just calling in this type of situation (albeit online) and I think I might be making more money in the spot by just calling. I have to figure out how to check this in PT4.
Thoughts?

How does your game change when you're in a tourney compared to a cash game? I find I am much more tight, but much more aggressive early and OOP in tourneys. When I have position, from the HJ, CO, and BTN, I have been working on more of a "small ball" type of play. Small raises, much wider, instead of the opposite. Example, my normal opening range OTB is about 24% of hands in a cash game. In a trny, I like to be in the 35-40% range. Especially when antes kick in and maybe wider near the bubble if the blinds don't defend enough.

Rousey tastes a foot sandwich, goes night night, and we have a new champ!!!

late reg. into a turbo omaha trny last night and took 2nd for $54. Not too bad as I know just enough omaha to get myself into trouble.

Always nice to win 6 BIs in a session. Felt like there was a point where no one wanted to get into a hand with me. (between $20-$40) But after I got above $40, everyone and their mother wanted to take a shot at the big stack. Good thing they didn't know just how exploitable I was playing. Chalk one up for Bovada's anonymous player policy.

Any thoughts on this hand?

Table '#663' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Small Blind ($11.23 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero ($44.77 in chips)
Seat 3: UTG ($19.33 in chips)
Seat 4: UTGplus1 ($16.64 in chips)
Seat 5: UTGplus2 ($10.20 in chips)
Seat 6: Dealer ($18.84 in chips)
Small Blind: posts small blind $0.05
Hero: posts big blind $0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [8d 6d]
UTG: folds
UTGplus1: folds
UTGplus2: folds
Dealer: folds
Small Blind: raises $0.25 to $0.30
Hero: calls $0.20
*** FLOP *** [4d Jd 7h]
Small Blind: bets $0.50
Hero: raises $1 to $1
Small Blind: calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [4d Jd 7h] [5d]
Small Blind: checks
UTGplus1: Seat re-join
Hero: bets $1.80
Small Blind: raises $8.13 to $9.93 and is all-in
Hero: calls $8.13
*** RIVER *** [4d Jd 7h 5d] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Small Blind: shows [Kh Kd] (a pair of Kings)
Hero: shows [8d 6d] (a flush, Jack high)
Hero collected $21.34 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $22.46 | Rake $1.12
Board [4d Jd 7h 5d 3h]
Seat 1: Small Blind (small blind) showed [Kh Kd] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: Hero (big blind) showed [8d 6d] and won ($21.34) with a flush, Jack high



I guess it's a pretty straight forward hand, other than how bad I think V played this.

this is from earlier in the session. This one just blows my mind. I don't think I could have made it any more clear as to what I had. lol Sorry for the different texts, playing around and learning how to do this.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: $15.49
SB: $23.78
Hero (BB): $19.59
UTG: $6.27
MP: $11.83
CO: $21.08

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Ah Ac
UTG raises to $0.25, fold, CO calls $0.25, fold, SB calls $0.20, Hero raises to $1.50, UTG calls $1.25, fold, SB calls $1.25

Flop : ($4.75, 3 players) As 6s Th
SB checks, Hero bets $3.00, fold, SB raises to $7.27, Hero raises to $18.09 and is all-in, SB calls $10.82

Turn : ($40.93, 2 players) 4s

River : ($40.93, 2 players) 7c

SB shows Td 9d (One Pair, Tens)
(Pre 23%, Flop 2%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows Ah Ac (Three of a Kind, Aces)
(Pre 77%, Flop 98%, Turn 100%)

Hero wins $38.93

entered 6 trnys (4 of the Mad Monday trnys on Bovada) and bricked 5. (min cashed the other) I play good for 3 or 4 hrs and it always comes down to making just a jackass stupid call in a spot where I am NEVER good. FML Maybe someday I'll learn.

I really need some help with PT4. if anyone is well versed in digging through the filters, please let me know.

I'm looking for situations when I call a bet in position with different hands SCs, Axs etc.
3bet profitability with certain hands, and if my blind play is ok or not.