cool thread, ill follow this one

ty guys, to update, i have sent some videos to a website manager for him to edit/ upload however he hasnt done so as of yet

Great thread,

do you coach? You seem to have a very very good grasp of the game and be able to explain the concepts well.

am trying to get into it yeah. i have given lessons to a couple of players from nl25 - nl200 but nothing substantial. im not that great at explaining things i dont think, but i try - ty for ur compliments

i think u were trying to open a training site or somethin? how about that?

my idea was/ is to start a free video training site whereby every instructor is a coach and makes the videos for free but obviously they are advertising themselves to prospective students so thats how they get effectively paid by the site. then the site makes money from adverts or affiliating. site would also have a forum etc. dont know if ill ever get it going because of the effort required to find good coaches who arent already with deuces cracked or cardrunners etc. but meh. i think its an ok idea lol.

YAY - I made it all the way through! I'll watch the other two videos.

Thanks again for this great thread. This started out as a good idea, and morphed into an even better one.

You are very good at explaining your thinking in many situations.

Please keep it up.

lol it took a huge diversion part way through but whatever. im just glad that people appreciate it really because i enjoy writing poker strategy.

Jack I was wondering if you could comment with you playing poker whilst at university, your doing finance right? do you feel you made the correct decisions with the whole balance poker/life/work things etc, what wouold you do different again...

ty in advance

i do business management. im in the final year of a 3 year programme. i have always been fairly lazy and because im quite naturally clever ive been able to get away with it until now. i wouldnt say poker has affected me that much in terms of how little work i do for uni because my course really bores me. so i guess i dont have a very good balance at all. im really lucky to have found poker because im graduating in june and id never survive in a 9-5 job.

Jack please keep posting here and adding to the amount of info that's already on here, this thread has been very helpful.

Thanks, are you happy that you went to university? would it have been more benfical for you to just go with poker?

i didnt really play poker when i 1st came to uni. i mean i played some sng's but my roll was still under 4 figures i think. i didnt think of poker as being at all serious.

even if i had been in the situation now whereby i can make a living from poker, university is such an amazing experience that id definitally have gone and im glad that i did. its just a wicked lifestyle.


if people ask questions/ suggest topics to write about then ill do my best to answer them.

I just wanted to jump in on this one. Many in these forums are considering poker instead of an education and career. I understand why - education and career take a long, long time to build. Working is boring.

I strongly suggest investing time and money in education for many reasons, including long-term financial.

Gambling laws can and will change. Fish could stop playing. Artificial intelligence could make the online game unprofitable. You could find you get as bored of poker as you do of a job.

Education, skills, and experience cannot be taken away from you. It is very difficult to go back to school, or to get an entry-level job when you are over 30. Nobody will want to hire you. You won't know what to do or how to act in an office.

Even if it is just part-time, I strongly suggest getting a marketable education, gaining some marketable professional experience, and making sure you have a backup plan for the day when poker no longer works. For several reasons this will also help you at poker.

Good stuff jack!!

no, i wouldnt recommend to anyone that they give up university/ college for poker. its not hard to blag a degree so long as you're relatively clever.

fwiw, i only plan on playing poker long enough to start a business in property. so long as poker doesnt totally die within the next 2 or 3 years i should be fine.

also, this thread is rapidly going miles off topic from what was originally the objective - writing strategy for micro stakes nlhe. i might make a couple vids and start a new thread that is like a cleaned up version of this one cos i know some people have tried reading through this one and got bored or whatever.

haven't read this thread in a while -- what's your status? Last I checked, you were playing $25. I'd assume you're crushing $50+ by now??

gl.

lol... around september time i basically had to withdraw my stars roll as i couldnt get money off full tilt and needed some cash irl to buy a load of stuff for my student house at university, the highlight of which is a 40" plasma to play call of duty on

so yeah thats when the thread sort of took a massive diversion, as since then i have only been playing on full tilt and have been focusing on trying to crush the 600nl games and break into the 1k games there.

however, i need to get 4k vpp this month on stars to make supernova so i have put $600 or so on there and am grinding 50nl sporadically. i said i was gonna get some vids put up on a diff site, however i havent spoken to the site manager for ages so i dont know what hes playing at... therefore i may make a couple of 50nl vids for u guys cos theres quite a bit of cool stuff to talk about at 50nl

Unless you already know everything I don't see how you could get bored. I know I'm new to 2+2 but this has been the best thread I've read yet. My only complaint: you apologizing on your vids for your commentary. Don't apologize man! Confidence! Anyway, I really liked how you would pause and explain everything. I've learned a lot and I'm FINALLY caught up on the thread! Now i can find some situations to ask about.

ok cool, please do. same goes for everyone else. would be cool to get some more strat chat back in the thread

to kick things off with some more strat chat, heres a couple of hands from a session i played earlier today on stars at nl50 in order to try and hit supernova by end of december. one is value betting on the river and the other is bluff raising the river. something which people all the way up to the mid-stakes suck at.

50nl is where cash games start to get a bit more interesting. you find regs who know what they are doing to some extent... like they will have seen 2p2 and watched some videos so they know they should be 3betting light, they know they should be double barreling when a low flop comes and then an A comes on the turn etc... however they are super exploitable in a lot of spots because they struggle to fold top pair and generally just dont understand relative hand strength. they also turn their hands face up quite a bit by pot controlling a lot of their weak made hands too much. and mostly they cbet like 80% of boards then just c/f a ton of turns. i will try and write some stuff up properly about these things and how you can exploit them effectively.

in terms of fish, they are still there in abundance, u just might have to look for them a little bit more than you are used to.

so onto a couple hands...


hand 1:

if you play on stars this might be useful to you to know this player. for those who dont, hes a decent aggro reg. very 2p2 sort of player and the sort of reg i described above basically.

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Jmoney1423 (MP): $67.85
Arancaa (CO): $49.20
Hero (BTN): $141.70
gr1my (SB): $75.55
speedcake (BB): $50.00
okutai (UTG): $67.25

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with Q K
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 1 fold, speedcake calls $1

so right away we can discount a lot of JJ+, AQ+ and probably some stuff like AT/ AJ as most regs at nl50 are just going to be auto-3betting those hands (not that thats the best play necessarily, its just what they have learnt). he is probably flatting a lot of pairs 22-TT, some broadway hands like KJ/ QJ. maybe some connectors like 78s but i think he might use those to 3bet light with.

Flop: ($3.25) Q 4 8 (2 players)

good flop to cbet, obviously. a lot of his broadway hands missed, a lot of his connectors missed. only 2 of his pocket pairs made sets. id probably be cbetting this near to 100%, though id check back some marginal made hands like 55 to try and get to showdown cheaply as i dont really think theres value in betting and its pointless bluffing him (as he only folds hands worse than mine).

speedcake checks, Hero bets $2.00, speedcake calls $2

when he check/calls, i assume his range to be a lot of hands like 55+, 8x and Qx. sets may slowplay. i doubt he is check-calling A high just because players at 50nl probably arent (tho its not a bad play vs someone who cbets all the time). so im confident i have the best hand here 95% of the time.

Turn: ($7.25) 5 (2 players)

unless he check-called 55/ 67 or slowplayed a set, i believe i still have the best hand. this is a card i would probably double barrel with all my diamond draws, lots of gutshots such as A2/62/97 etc since i dont expect him to have a hand that can call 2 or 3 barrels as he mostly has 77 type hand, 8x or a weak Qx. therefore, i cant just bet my bluffs and check my good hands because hes a reg and will work that out pretty quickly (my turn betting range becomes super polarised basically). also, since i have the best hand 95% of the time i just want to get value.

speedcake checks, Hero bets $5.50, speedcake calls $5.50

unlikely he slowplayed a set twice since the board is getting somewhat drawy, i have indicated that i have a decent hand... he would want to be trying to get stacks in before a cooler card comes on the river. unless he misclicked, i have the best hand like 100% of the time.

River: ($18.25) A (2 players)

here is a spot where i think a lot of players would check behind, and i think thats wrong for a couple of reasons...

1) what hands that beat us are in his range? 8x dd that backdoored into a flush is just about the only hand that beats us now. Ax is unlikely because AQ probably 3bets pre, and that hand beat us anyway. A8 is unlikely just because thats a really weak hand to defend (he would probably 3bet or fold that), and its also a very thin call on the turn unless he thinks i double barrel a lot.

2) its a good card for us to bluff. if we were double barreling the turn with 96/ 97/ 63s/ 62s, all of which id be opening from the button, then id be bluffing the river. whilst our A2/ A3 hands hit, as well as our flushes, theres still a lot of bluffs in our range (combo wise theres a lot of 97o hands etc), so he can potentially hero call. furthermore, he wont expect me to bet Qx on the river, which polarises my perceived range quite a lot to A2/A3, 67 and then the 2pairs and sets. when someones range is polarised you should be more inclined to call down because it means they dont need to be bluffing very often essentially (this isnt the best example of a polarised hand range though).

speedcake checks, Hero bets $13.50, speedcake folds

the important thing to remember is that we didnt lose anything by betting. he isnt going to call every time obviously, but that doesnt matter. if we check behind, he cant make a mistake. if we bet, then we give him the opportunity to. the objective of poker is to make your opponent make more mistakes than you.


hand 2:

heres a cool bluff vs a fish, where i think most people would just auto-fold or auto-call the river and not think at all about bluff raising which in fact is just hugely +EV.

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Eagles525 (BB): $40.15
Hero (UTG): $66.60
Alex_Barr21 (MP): $52.85
Watermelon31 (CO): $51.65
XxaceshighxX (BTN): $56.30
brownie337 (SB): $37.95

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with K Q
Hero raises to $1.50, Alex_Barr21 calls $1.50, 1 fold, XxaceshighxX calls $1.50, brownie337 calls $1.25, Eagles525 calls $1

standard open, obviously. we get called in 4 places so whatever. im not gonna be getting too involved unless i flop a monster...

Flop: ($7.50) A 7 6 (5 players)
brownie337 bets $2.00, Eagles525 calls $2,

we get led into 5 way by the sb and then the bb calls. although the bet is small, i dont think that the sb can be too weak here just because its 5way. therefore i dont like raising here, even though i think some people might be inclined to because we have the nut flush draw, we were the preflop raiser, and therefore we are entitled to raise!! thats kind of wrong thinking imo... if we call, we keep in all worse flush draws, we can outdraw sets/ 2 pair and potentially stack someone.

Hero calls $2, Alex_Barr21 folds, XxaceshighxX folds

Turn: ($13.50) K (3 players)
brownie337 checks, Eagles525 bets $5.00,

now we pick up a pair to go with our flush draw. the sb checks, so i dont think he is strong at all. i have no idea wtf he was doing on the flop lol... bb bets super small, so i assume he is either making a gaybet with Ax trying to charge a draw, or betting a draw himself. i dont think he ever (<5%) has a set/ 2pair. i have good odds to try and outdraw him, or i may have the best hand anyway so i call.

Hero calls $5, brownie337 folds

River: ($23.50) 7 (2 players)
Eagles525 bets $6.00,

again he makes a tiny bet. so now i think he is either doing some ridic bluff with spades, or making a thin/ block bet with Ax. since his bet is so small, i think that he is essentially looking to get to showdown cheaply. since hes a fish, i doubt he is very good at hand-reading. if i raise, i rep a 7 that rivered trips or a bluff. the thing is though... when a fish buys in for under full stacked, and then bets like this, he is basically saying that he doesnt want to get it all in but that he has a hand of some value that he didnt want to check. so yeah, i could call here and be good some% of the time, but i can raise and win the pot like 100% of the time. even though to a good hand reader i dont rep much, the fish isnt trying to hand read, he will just see a 7 came on the river, i raised, i probably 'have it'.

Hero raises to $58.10, Eagles525 folds

fwiw, from a math perspective he had about $25 left after his river bet, and the pot was $30. he doesnt even need to fold 50% of the time to show a profit. usually the standard is 'never bluff a fish off top pair', but its clear he doesnt want to go broke here, so its obviously massively +EV when he is snap-folding much more than 50%. i also think a may have had the best hand on the river some% of the time, but thats not the point.

so the important thing i hope these hands showed is that people generally arent very deceptive and they have what they are repping. in the 1st hand, speedcake was repping a 1 pair type hand... we tried to get a hero call, it didnt happen. its good to note that he can fold there, as it makes it a good spot to bluff in the future. the important thing to remember is that we allowed him to make a mistake whereas by checking we wouldnt have.

in the 2nd hand, we thought about the hand range of the fish, we thought about whether he wanted to play a big pot with it or a small pot, and then we put him to a tough decision which again, allowed him to make a mistake. if we call the river, he cant make a mistake.

you will also notice, that by making plays like this, your red line is increasing rapidly. thats not to say you should 3 barrel every hand, or bluff raise every river, but its important to pick up on spots like this. i dont think either of the hands are close (i.e. the play i made is the best play 95%+ of the time in both), but they are situations that a lot of people miss out on, particularly those who are auto-piloting a bunch of tables and not really looking at places to make good plays - notably btw, those players are generally those who have the worst red lines and it drastically lowers your winrate

heres another hand that i saw while looking through my session for cool hands to post. the villain here is a random fish i dont have too many hands on but hes playing like 26/7.


Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

ssum (CO): $34.10
&lt;&lt;OSKARBET>> (BTN): $49.75
piliti (SB): $73.25
Hero (BB): $50.00
mossyboy4 (UTG): $27.70

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with J 2
3 folds, piliti calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2, piliti calls $1.50

so im basically raising any two vs a fish who limps my bb. i think they will be folding some of the time to my raise, when called i have at least some equity all the time, and its fairly likely that most of the time he will call.... miss the flop... check to me, i bet, he folds. boom boom. i win pot that i otherwise may have not. being in position gives you so much power and you need to start abusing it immensly if u dont already.

Flop: ($4.00) 7 3 2 (2 players)
piliti checks, Hero checks

i think hes gonna peel a lot here. he is obviously peeling any diamond and any gutshot, he may even peel some hands that have backdoor diamonds + backdoor straight draws just cos hes a fish. and hes never folding a pair ldo.

Turn: ($4.00) 8 (2 players)
piliti bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

i think a lot of players, particularly fish, seem to auto-stab the turn when flops checks through at these levels. thats not to say its always a bad play, but its so super obvious.

in terms of hands he can be betting, he can obviously be betting any pair for protection, he can be betting any draw to try and take it down. i obviously beat any draw and theres a ton more draws than there are pairs so i call.

River: ($9.00) A (2 players)
piliti bets $5.50,

now when he bets the river, his range becomes kind of polarised in a similar way to before. he might not be thinking about my hand on a very advanced level, but he will recognise when i check the flop back i dont have much. he will recognise when i call the turn i at least have something, either a missed draw or like A or K high. so the A is a bit of a scare card to him and he will think with his marginal hands which have showdown value that we may have hit it. thus, with most of his 7x or 8x hands id just expect him to check and then decide (prob call cos hes a fish). on the other hand, if he has air, he will bluff the ace thinking like.. "oh well the ace came so now ill just represent that".

so when he bets, it polarises his range to Ax, 2 pair+ and busted draws. now, again theres a ton more busted draws in his range than there are any other hands, so this a mandatory call down when you think about it, even though i think the majority of people would fold just because we have J2, you would go "what do we beat"? well the answer is quite a lot considering that 3x, 7x, and 8x are basically never betting and therefore his range is skewed heavily towards missed draws.

Hero calls $5.50

for those who are results orientated....

Jack,

Could you write bit more about suited connectors? I mean - the way they are played/missplayed at micros? How profitable is to call 3bet (or not) with them? Defendig blinds with SC or even 3bet BTN who steals a lot....

Long story short - Guide for SC from NL10 to NL50 and point out differences in levels (if so?).

This is a really great thread, I wish you would could of started at 5NL 6max. That seems to be right where most of us begin(5NL), and I would of been curious to hear what your strategies were for that level. Anyway, great read and GL!

Just want to give a huge thanks to jack for the thread and the videos, watched 2 of them, and read the whole thread. Took me like 2 days to do that

One thing I was wondering about, you said when you start getting light 3 bets against you, the easiest thing is just get up and leave the table. But if that's not an option, how do we adjust? Start 4 betting a wider range to like 2,25x of their 3 bet or something?