COTW: Isolation – Varying your strategy based on opponent tendencies
I was going to include several actual HHs for you guys to review and give your response, but there are just too many factors in isolation that aren’t present in a HH. Equally important to the stats/stack size of the limper (or blinds) is the players left to act. Given the time I spent on this COTW, I didn’t really have the time to put together HHs with every relevant piece of info. Also, this is not to replace or take away from Kurt's awesome thread, but merely to use it as a springboard.
I. Outline for why we isolate
II. Player typesa. Fold too muchi. Set miner
ii. Loose passive
b. Call too muchi. Meh-reg in the blinds
ii. Super loose passive fish
III. On bet sizinga. Static vs elastic ranges
IV. Special casesa. OOP vs a limper
b. OOP vs several limpers
c. IP vs player who calls too much, blinds are nitty
d. IP vs loose passive, BTN/CO is also loose
e. Isolating a short stack
f. 3-betting as a means of isolation
V. Summary
I. Outline for why we isolate
We isolate someone in order to get heads up with them to capitalize on the three advantages in poker, which are skill advantage (we make better decisions than they), card advantage (we have a hand that is likely ahead, thus we raise for value), and positional advantage (our position allows us to maximize when ahead and minimize when behind). We isolate different players for different reasons, and it follows that we should be isolating with a different range and plan.
We isolate because someone makes the postflop mistake of either calling too much or folding too much. If someone is folding too much, our hand doesn’t really matter; if someone is calling too much, we need playability and cannot just isolate with any two.
The caveat here is that we will get called by the BTN, CO, or blinds a non-zero percent of the time, so you should not isolate with the very bottom of your range. For example, fold 72o, 84o, 34o, T5o etc, and isolate with A9o, 76s, Q6s, etc
Note: You should be aggressively going out of your way to isolate exploitable players. Isolating is not just for when you are in late position. If a bad player is in the blinds, I would be very happy to try and isolate them from any position. On the flip side, do not isolate just for the sake of isolating. Raising 62o from the BTN because “he limped, he’s weak,” is just plain bad.
Before I delve into player types, I will say that often it is not as simple as pigeonholing a player into one and only one category; saying “he calls too much” is a pretty general statement, but saying “he plays fit or fold, but will call liberally with bottom pair or better” is a much more accurate read. Conversely, saying “he folds too much” is also too general, and saying “he calls on safe boards, but folds too often on bad boards, despite my insanely wide range,” is better.
II. Player Types
a. Fold too much players
When isolating players who fold too much, you generally should be sizing up preflop. If their mistake is to fold too much post, their leak is putting too much money in pre. My preference is to go 5x to 6x vs these players, although I’ve found that 5x gets called a hell of a lot more. These players are by far the easiest to play against.
i. The set miner
You don’t see a lot of set miners who open limp these days (when you do, dollar signs should flashing), so a majority of your pots against them will likely either be not an ISO or when they call from the blinds. They are easy to identify by their nitty as hell stats (9/7 and down , 80% and higher fold to steal, 3% or less 3b, etc). The interesting thing about nits, in my opinion, is that they aren’t purely set mining anymore and won’t autofold their 88 if they don’t flop a set. They will call a street on non scary boards, but fold once it looks like you hit your overcards (J+ on the turn, Q+ on the flop is my usual staring point). If they call on “bad flops” and you don’t have a value hand, you should shut down.
Examples:
A72r board – classic flop, one and done here
964r – barreling J+ on the turn
Q56hh/K78hh - basically still one and done even though the board has draws. The nit will rarely have a draw because of his preflop range.
ii. The loose passive fit/fold
These are fairly common at all levels of microstakes that I’ve played. They are easy to identify because they open limp EP/MP a lot and have stats like 24/5 and 50 to 70% fold to steal. They have a lot of SCs, S1Gs, Ax suited, broadways, low to mid pairs, and sometimes up to QQ/AK/AQ. We should be betting all dry flops (Axx, Kxx, Qxx, 942r, TT2r, etc) and anything where we flop top pair or better. Much like the nit, we can isolate fairly wide, but should have a hand that isn’t totally screwed if we get called.
A major point here is that when betting for value vs this player, you should size up, as much as full pot, and size down when you have air and are just looking to take it down. “OMG but that’s so exploitable! My hand is so obvious if I’m betting big with value and small with bluffs!” says 2+2. It’s only exploitable if they’re exploiting it; trust me they’re not. They’re looking at their cards and the board.
Call too much players
The thing with these players is that you want to (1) bet more thinly for value, and (2) use position to capitalize on your equity, when you can’t bet for value. These players will often not be making super splashy plays at you, so you can bet/fold a reasonable one pair hand and not feel bad about it (they call too much, remember?) A major distinction here is that, as a general rule, the wider a villain’s preflop range, the less likely I am to bet/fold TPGK. The reason being, a tighter player who calls a lot is at least smart enough to know not to stack off JTs on J86hh; a looser player will dump 100bb with AJ on AT9 all day.
i. The meh-reg (I steelz ur blindz)
These guys have stats like 14/12 and fold to steal less than 70% AND a low 3-bet (usually 3% and down). This indicates they are 3-betting only strong hands (or flatting QQ and 3-betting KK+/AK and a few bluffs), but calling with things like AQ, KQ, JTs, 66 – JJ, etc. This player might be hard to distinguish from an aggro reg in the blinds, just based on stats; how do you know if he’s the type to check raise bluff or the type to never bluff and just call down? Observe their play, and use postflop stats cautiously.
Versus these guys we should not ISO with junk (fold the A6o) but substitute it for things that flop stronger equity (easily the most important thing to have when isolating a player who calls a lot). Ax suited, SCs and gaps, pairs, broadways, are all fine.
Ex
We raise QJo, Vil calls from BB
QT6hh – easy bet for value and betting many turns if called. Thin? Yes – he will show up with KQ, AQ, TT, QQ, and 66 sometimes, but he will also show up with JT, AT, AJ, KJ, AK, JJ, 99, 88, 78s, 89s, etc.
We raise T8s, Vil calls from BB
942r – I don’t think c-betting this flop is ideal. We don’t have much FE (non scary board vs a player who likes to call) but we have some backdoor draws. Don’t b/f yourself off a good backdoor draw, and don’t turn your opponents mistakes into profit. (Note: Betting in this spot with plans to double barrel could be a totally viable option)
9427hh – Vll bets 2/3 pot. We call. Our equity is suddenly pretty good, villain is likely not folding to a raise (non scary board vs a player who likes to call). We use our position to capitalize on our equity, and expect to get paid off a fair share of the time if we hit (how many micro regs have you come across that can put you on a backdoor straight or flush and b/f a set or two pair?)
ii. The super loose passive fish
Much like the loose passive who folds too much, these guys should be your bread and butter at NLHE. DO NOT BLUFF THEM. Instead, value bet them relentlessly. You should realize by now you want to isolate with hands that can flop a reasonable top pair/second pair/good draw. Ax suited, Kx suited, Qx suited, even Jx suited in some cases, all broadways, all pairs, most SCs and gaps…very similar to the range we play against the meh-reg but wider.
Our strategy should be to bet all dry flops to pick up the dead money (this is sort of a gray area, because betting AK on T42r can be for value to get called by worse Ax; betting with 86s because he will fold Q8o). The more draws on board, the more you should bet for value. Often, you can get 2 or even 3 streets with bottom and second pair.
Ex
J52r – bet to collect dead money
K76ss and we have K2s – easy bet for value, tons of draws and worse pairs to get value from
K76ss and we have A7s with backdoor flush – easy bet for value, for similar reasons.
K76ss and we have 88 – easy bet for value, you get the idea.
How thinly you can bet for value is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself, but to get an idea, you’ll probably get to the point where you say, “Hmm well I don’t think I can really bet 22 for value on this K76ss board. Sure he has draws in his range, but I’m not entirely sure which ones, all of his draws have 50% or better equity vs 22, and I have no idea which turn cards are good for me. I check and give up.”
III. On bet sizing
a. Static vs elastic ranges
When c-betting dry boards as a bluff, in general you can size down because villain’s continuance range is usually pretty static (ie, our bet sizing has little to no influence on the hands he calls with). This is definitely the case vs weaker players; their MO is “Did I or did I not flop a piece?” Versus meh-regs I would not recommend this. When your range is wide and they have a strong ace high on a dry board, and you bet 40 to 50% pot, they are more likely to go, “Sigh…well he has SCs in his range, I can peel one, I have outs if I need them.”
IV. Special cases
a. OOP vs a limper
The same general concepts apply, but in my opinion, your range should be much narrower just because of your positional disadvantage. Your equity on the flop will need to be better, so maybe you don’t ISO a LP limper with 56s, but you are still probably okay with KJo. Also note your sizing should be bigger. If you go 5x in position, go 6x or 6.5x OOP. You don’t mind taking it down pre and you want to force them to put in a decent amount to see the flop in position. Also because your range is stronger, you will win bigger pots more often when you flop a made hand.
b. OOP vs several limpers
UTG limps, MP limps, and CO limps. Folds to you in the SB with TT or AJo. Do you complete or try and isolate? Well that depends heavily on the order of the players. If UTG and MP are both loose passive stations and the CO is a reg, then it makes no sense to try and isolate; UTG will inevitably call and force everyone else to call. If instead UTG is a super tight set mining nit, MP is a short stack, and CO is a loose fish, then ISO all day but make it big.
c. IP vs player who calls too much, blinds are nitty
Your profit comes in thin value and equity realization postflop. Only ISO to the amount you need to in order to get heads up with them. If both blinds are nitty, you can even go as small as 3x and be fine.
d. IP vs loose passive, BTN/CO also loose
You have to be aware of who is on your left at all times. It doesn’t make sense to iso a set miner from the HJ with 98o if both the CO and BTN are both loose stations. In this situation, I tend to revert to the range I’d ISO a limper from the blinds (see IVa).
e. Isolating a short stack
Similar to a player who calls too much postflop, you want to dump the junk and ALSO dump hands that don’t do well with little money behind (I’m talking to you, suited connectors and low pairs). Still ISO with broadways and probably 88+. I would not ISO more than 4x because you’ll just create really bad SPRs and have no room.
f. 3-betting as a means of isolation
This primarily comes up when a looser player or bad reg opens; you 3-bet because you have a hand that doesn’t play well multiway and they are very likely to call OOP (or stack light, in which case you aren’t really 3-betting to isolate, you’re 3-betting for value). An example would be something like, a loose bad player opens MP, you are directly on his left with AQo, and the BTN and CO are both regulars (likely to overcall or squeeze if you call). So you 3-bet in order to play HU with the bad player.
V. Summary
Your ongoing goal and challenge in poker is to play pots with weaker players. You do this for different reasons, so your range and plan should be different. Maximize value/equity vs players likely to call a lot postflop. Put more money in pre and collect the dead money post vs players who fold a lot postflop. Always be aware of the remaining players left to act – don’t get caught isolating a limper with K4s and then have the CO, BTN, and both blinds call because you failed to notice they were also huge stations.
Last edited by *COINFLIPS*; 02-14-2011 at 02:08 AM.
Reason: holy ****ing tl;dr
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