Hey!

Im not sure if this is the right spot to post this, but here it goes. I bought the book some time ago and now whenever I try to open it, it says "the security plu-in required by this command is unavailable". Anyone know how can I resolve this? How can I get in touch with Matthew or someone who could solve the problem for me? Thanks!

I'm about to reading your book.
I read on CR that you are pretty unhappy with your preflop section...
Can you explain what parts the reader should skip?

Is this correct (pg 330) ?

we're at the river and go all-in for 1 PSB after our opponent checks to us.
Villain has us beat 20 % of the time.
What is the EV of betting 1 PSB ?

Matt explains that Villains needs to keep us indifferent to bluffing and thus should call 50%.
When he does call 50 %, the equation is as follows :

0.9 = 0.50 * 1P + 0.30 * 2P - 0.20 * 1P

This looks wrong to me. Betting 1 PSB makes us imbalanced towards value and Villain should always fold.

The equation should read :

1.2 P = 0.50 * 1P + 0.50 (0.80 * 2P - 0.20 * 1P)

If we know Villain has us beat 20 %, we should bet 1/3 P to make Villain indifferent to calling or folding and Villain should call with a 75% freq. to keep us indifferent to bluffing.

Villain's EV (call/fold):

0 = 0.25 * 0 + 0.75 * (0.20 * 1.3333 P - 0.80 * 0.3333 P)

where am I wrong ?

Did you get the amazon (kindle) version or did you buy through 2p2 (and did you choose DRM protected PDF or ePub?)
I'll assume not the Kindle version. In the case of PDF or ePub this bit from the bottom of the purchase page might help:

So download Adobe Digital Editions, register it, and use that to open the book - not some other E-Book reader (unless it uses ADE). I bought the ePub and use ADE 3.0 to read it on my computer (has decent highlight/note features) there is also IceCream EBook Reader which I like more feature and aesthetics wise but for some reason it wouldn't display images in the epub file for me.



I don't want to answer for him but my guess is that he's unhappy with the concreteness of the PF ranges he chose (and maybe some of the reasonings for some of the specific hands) - he made a chart with opening/responce ranges preflop by position - he also assumed betsizings that were more standard a few years ago but aren't very common today. And lots of small wording errors and typos in this section.
I think a lot of the concepts he used in the preflop section still hold true and I found it to be a good read (thankful that I read his warning that he wasn't too happy with the section in hindsight because it allowed me to be more aware when choosing which of his thoughts sounded reasonable and which didn't) and I definitely wouldn't skip over the section, personally.
Just keep in mind that you shouldn't take any of the concrete advice as perfect/solved things to use in your play but should use the section as an opportunity to host some debates in your mind on the merits and flaws in any topic.


BTW, Matt. I obviously really loved your book. I think you've done the best job of choosing the most necessary math and explaining it all more conceptually/vividly than any of the other books I've read.
The typoos were a bit too frequent (and ffs i still have seen you refer to it as "3bet calling range" when that is obviously confusing to the audience - stop doing that and use "call-v-3bet range" ) but I actually love that you openly argue against some of your old thoughts from the book because that drives the point home that none of this is solved and there are always variables that weren't accounted (or wrongly accounted for) in any humans take on this stuff in practice. Helps keep the mind grounded but open when approaching the work

Hey just wanted to post that I know I've been sucking on responses, but I'm pretty swamped with work at the moment. When I get a break I do plan to answer most if not all of the questions and hopefully give you guys the responses you want (since some of the questions seem pretty detailed). Hopefully waiting for an in-depth answer is preferable than just getting a quick response on my phone.

How applicable the default preflop ranges against regulars are in micros NL25+, who actually do have an idea how preflop should be played.

So as the preflop ranges were pretty much slapped on to my face, I haven't yet studied them that much so I'm asking for some advice what I should be looking in there of what I should maybe not include in my play yet as I'm still playing NL25.

And I'm talking about playing against regulars who have an idea of 3/4/5 bet wars, as there are still loads of people in NL25 that for example keep defending vs 3bets by flatting OOP and hoping to spike a flop and 90% end up x/c.

Yeah and the preflop part kinda skips past the developing ranges for flatting vs 4bets, how often, what kind of combos etc.

What other material you would suggest for this as I'm kinda new to flatting 4bets, I've only really done it with hands like ( AQ, KQ, AJs etc), good hands but don't really make the strongest hands, and usually only if 4bet is a bit smaller (btn opens 2bb). But I probably need to also include some hands from the 5bet range.

I really need to learn more of this concept and will probably start crunching some numbers soon, but would appreciate if I had some material to start with.

And I understand that the 4bet ranges were designed in mind that villains actually do call 4bets from time to time. Or why the 4bet value/bluff ratios are so heavily weighted towards bluff from EP and MP?

But if villains aren't really ever calling 4bets but either 5bet folding in my limit, I should look to adjust 4bet value/bluff ratios more towards the 60-40 ratio. Because the 4bet ranges in the book for EP and MP are fairly exploitable by 5bet bluffing or not even actually bluffing, but 5betting a decent amount of 3bet range. Or are we just trying to fool them with our low 4bet% to think that our 4bet range is stronk.

Really hoped that the preflop ranges were given more thought in the book.

Cliffs is I tried to model pre-flop play and it did not work out well. I would honestly just skip the pre-flop section.

Side note: I spent more time on this section than any other section (by a lot) and many moons ago (well before the book was published) that seemed to be the chapter people liked the most. But unfortunately it's probably not actually good as the assumptions I made are not good assumptions.

Well could you give hints were I could find material to study preflop ranges, because it makes so much easier to create my own ranges when I can get good ideas from other peoples ranges etc.

For example I find the flatting a greater deal vs 3bets OOP, which your book emphasizes actually being very good at my limit (NL25), as people are usually either 3barreling with their bluffs or just straight giving up without the board actually affecting much.

Gotta still balance out the 4bet ranges and need to put some thought in some of the cold calling ranges. For example not sure if flatting AA btn vs CO as default is more EV than 3betting.


Are you dealing preflop ranges more closely in your Cardrunners videos?

anyone on this ?

Still trying to wait on detailed responses, but I think your equation is wrong. If he has us beat 20% of the time then we'll lose 20% of the time after we bet. Your equation has us losing only 10% of the time.

I would use PokerSnowie's ranges over mine, but understand PokerSnowie still makes a lot of assumptions regarding bet-sizing that you may not agree with (such as opening 3BB on the button and 2.25BB UTG). If you pick that opening size than hand value as UTG may change. For example, I think Snowie opens ATo UTG (it did last I checked) but not 87s, whereas most people would disagree with this.

I talk a lot about pre-flop stuff a lot in a bunch of CardRunners videos.

That's great that you're comfortable flatting 3-bets (and maybe even 4-bets?) at a low limit. It's good to get in the mentally of "calling and expecting to lose, because pot odds" as early as possible. I would not slowplay AA much anymore (though still may flat it to certain 3-bets) and in general am pretty aggressive pre-flop. Haven't played much recently, but over the summer when I was playing a good amount if all the monies went in pre-flop I was usually behind as I try very hard to aggressively deny equity (3-betting hands like 99-JJ and AQ quite aggressively, as well as 4-bet AK).

Hope that helps

1.2 P = 0.50 * 1P + 0.50 (0.80 * 2P - 0.20 * 1P)
you mean this equation has us losing 10 % ?

well no, as we are beat 20 % every times he calls, as per your statements of the situation.

As for the optimal river bet size, we should offer Villain pot odds corresponding to his equity, and to offer him 20% pot odds, we need to bet 1/3 pot, with a 4:1 value to bluff ratio.
He is thus indifferent to calling or folding, whatever his calling frequency.

Our EV for betting a balanced range is alway the pot, and Villain calling a balanced range always has an EV of 0.

Later you explain that we prefer not to get called (I thought we were indifferent to what he does) and that it is a concept obvious to advanced players ...
So I'm wondering what I'm missing ...

I don't think I said we were beat 20% of the time "when he calls." I looked on page 329 and I said we're beat 20% of the time, not beat when called 20% of the time.

I said the same thing on page 330.

Unless there's a mistake somewhere I've said we're beat 20% of the time total, not 20% of the time when called. We'll be beaten 40% of the time when called. Hope that helps.

Do you agree or disagree with PokerSnowie's preflop betsizing strategy? If not, would you use Snowie's range but use more standard (larger UTG, smaller on BTN) betsizing?

Thinking of getting your book sometime soon.

Above analysis about the 722r board, with 8 turn, is interesting. My default there would be to always check KQ, etc, along with A9-AK (and also checking often on flop with Ax/Kx). I'd guess, also, that most good high stakes regs would probably be unlikely to bet these hands on the turn here- from observing thousands of hands, it simply appears that generally they are almost always checking in such spot)... Wanted to get your thoughts in that. I'm slightly concerned that if I start studying game theory seriously (and then start tweaking my play in spots like the above), that somehow my overall winrate might actually decrease- just wanted to ask if you had any warnings/advice on how to avoid such a possible pitfall, for a winning player who doesn't have a strong theory background (basically just hesitant to overhaul my whole game w/o knowing for certain that I'm actually improving it).

As for Snowie (and your own recommended pre flop ranges), any quick examples on the 'pretty bad' portions of its recommendations that you'd definitely avoid?

Hi Matthew! In your book and vods analyzed examples of balancing c-bet and calling ranges. I would like to parse an example of balancing cb-3b and chek-rase ranges. I got something like that, but a lot of doubt about those or other hands BB vs MP.

BB cold calling range vs MP: JJ-22,AQo,AQs-ATs,KQs-KJs,QJs,JTs,T9s,98s,87s
Flop: AhTc7c
Total combos: 96
Desired combos defended: 96*60=59
Value chek-raises: TT(3) 77(3) ATs(2) KQсс QJсс KJсc 89сс =12
Bluff chek-raises: KQs(3) QJs(3) KJs(3) 89hh 87hh =11
Calls: AQ(12) AJs(3) JJ(6) JTs(3) T9s(3) 9c9(3) 8c8x(3) 89s(2) =35
Total combos defended: 58
Desired combos defended of chek-raises: 23*52%= 12 [(18+8+6)\(32+30)]=52%
TT(3) 77(3) ATs(2) KQсс QJсс KJсc 89сс 89hh =13


MP opening range: AA-22,AKo-ATo,KQo,AKs-A2s,KQs-KTs,QJs-QTs,JTs-J9s,T9s-T8s,98s-97s,87s,76s,65s
Flop: AhTc7c
Total combos: 197
Value betting range: AA(3) TT(3) 77(3) AT(9) A7s(2) AK(12) AcQx(3) AxQc(2) AQcc AcJx(3) AxJc(2) AJcc =44
Draw betting range: KQ(16) KJs(4) QJs(4) J9s(4) 89s(4) =32
Bluffing range: 76s(3) 56hh 78s(3) 79s(3) 8c8(3) 9c9(3) = 16
Total combos bet : 82
Flop Cbet percent: 42%
Desired combos defended of Cbet: 82*44%=36 14\(14+18)=44%
Cbet-3bet: AA(1) TT(3) 77(3) AT(5) A7s(2) QJhh KQhh =16
Cbet-calls: AcA(2) 89s(4) AcTx(3) AK(12) AQ(6) AJ(6) J9cc QJcc KJcc KQcc =39

Hi
Does this book work well on the kindle (colored ranges etc)?
Or should I just send off for hard copy ?
Thanks

no colors on kindle

I know there are no colours on the kindle - I have one
But I was wondering if the book contains colored range diagram that do not display well on the kindle
If not I would just buy a hard copy instead
That's why I asked the question

grossout - not that I can remember.

Here's what the opening hand chart looks like in Kindle
*blacked out to not give out the hands for free*

kinda what Matthew recommends with the preflop ranges anyway.

I changed a little tweaked
BB cold calling range vs MP: JJ-22,AQo,AQs-ATs,KQs-KJs,QJs,JTs,T9s,98s,87s
Flop: AhTc7c
Total combos: 96
Desired combos defended: 96*60=59

Value check-raises: TT(3) 77(3) ATs(2) KQсс QJсс KJсc 89сс =12
Bluff check-raises: KQs(3) QJs(3) KJs(3) 9c9(3) 8c8x(3) 87s(3) =18
Calls: AQ(12) AJs(3) JJ(6) JTs(3) T9s(3) 89s(3) =30
Total combos defended: 58

Desired combos defended of chek-raises: 12
TT(3) 77(3) ATs(2) KQсс QJсс KJсc 89сс 89hh =13


MP opening range: AA-22,AKo-ATo,KQo,AKs-A2s,KQs-KTs,QJs-QTs,JTs-J9s,T9s-T8s,98s-97s,87s,76s,65s

Flop: AhTc7c
Total combos: 197

Value betting range: AA(3) TT(3) 77(3) AT(9) A7s(2) AK(12) AcQx(3) AxQc(2) AQcc AcJx(3) AxJc(2) AJcc =44
Draw betting range: KQ(16) KJs(4) QJs(4) J9s(4) 89s(4) =32
Bluffing range: 76s(3) 56hh 78s(3) 79s(3) 8c8(3) 9c9(3) = 16
Total combos bet : 82
Flop Cbet percent: 42%

Desired combos defended of Cbet: 41
Cbet-3bet: TT(3) 77(3) QJhh KQhh KJhh 76hh 78hh 79hh=12
Cbet-calls: AA(3) 89s(4) AT(9) A7s(2) AK(12) AQcc J9cc QJcc KJcc KQcc AcQx(3) AxQc(2) =40
Total combos defended: 47

Board: AhTc7c
Range 1: TT,77,ATs,KQs-KJs,QJs,87s,9c9h,9d9c,9s9c,9c8c,8c8h,8d8c,8s8c
Range 2: AA,AKo,ATo,AKs,ATs,A7s,98s,AcQc,KcQc,KcJc,AcQh,AdQ c,AsQc,AcQd,AcQs,QcJc,Jc9c
Equity 1: 37.756% Win 1: 36.905% Tie 1: 1.702%
Equity 2: 62.244% Win 2: 61.393% Tie 2: 1.702%
As seen in the range desired combos defended of Cbet much stronger than range check-raises. Is it ok? Alternatively, should have been more Cbet flop and more desired? However, on this flop small blind will be protected more often through check-raises.

the small bilnd merge 3 betting range is broken, from post 11.