Post by Leroy on Aug 31, 2012 11:46:10 GMT -5
This is all Full Ring NLHE strategy . Thank you Mikes007 and Splitsuit for teaching me these things
This post will be a bit advanced for a beginner . This is more like one of the steps to intermediate level poker . A beginner should be learning a solid tag strategy . If you are still trying to get that down , then the plays and things I am going to talk about will probably turn you into a spew monkey .
Poker is about information :
You need to understand how and why a play will work before you can use it properly . You need to be able to handread fairly well to become a good poker player . This requires information . You need enough hands against your opponent to be able to know what he is doing . We have all been in a hand where the villian is unknown and we have 0 hands on them and have nfi how to continue . This is not an ideal opponent to bluff . You have no clue how he is going to respond to your play . Don’t get fancy here , just play straight forward
What I am going to talk about is best used against regs and opponents we have a decent enough hand sample on to figure out ranges properly
Now lets get into some bacon and potatoes
For simplicity , we are going to be on the button for all scenarios described from here on out unless specified .
I think about a full ring poker table as 2 games in one . Both games revolve around the button . The first game is the players to act before us when we are on the button . The second game is when it is folded to us on the button , and we have only the blinds left .
We will start out with stealing . What hands do we steal with ? How often can we do it ? What are we looking for in order to steal ? Why is stealing even important , its only a tiny pot ?
Calm the F down , im gonna answer this for you
Why is stealing even important ?
Stealing is important for many reasons . Lets say you are not stealing often enough , and you are a break even player . If you get off even 1 steal per 100 hands , you just increased your winrate by 1.5bb/100 The better you get at poker , the more you look for edges , a lot of small edges add up to 1 big edge if that makes sense . You need to be a good stealer to be a good player .
How often should we be stealing ?
I asked my coach Mikes007 this question and he said what do you think ? I said 20% sounds about right . He loled at me and called me a nooblet
J/K . He said something that was so simple and I just never thought of . He asked me “whats your equity when it is only you and the blinds left ? “I said I have nfi lol . He says” ok . If all 3 of you go all in every time how often do you win ? “ I just had one of those aha moments and it was clear to me . 33.33% . That’s my equity . Now I also have the best seat at the table because I have position for the entire hand So 33% is baseline Of course you can go much higher than this when the conditions are right , but 33% is the lowest you want to go . You can go as high as 100% ,Sometimes you have to tighten this up considerably when the conditions are wrong tho .
What are we looking for in order to steal ?
You want the blinds to be nits/tags usually . They understand the importance of position , so they hate playing out of position . You also know the importance of position , as well as seat selection right ? That’s why you put those nits/tags on your left .You want to know how often he is going to fold vs. your steal . I use fold vs. steal in my hud stats . If we use a standard 3bb open , we need the blinds to fold at about 68% to break even on our steal . At 70% fold vs. steal we are printing cheeseburgers with any2 cards even if we don’t put another dime in the pot ever . That last part of that statement is important . I am gonna go off on a tangent here for a second to explain . We just found a mathematically proven play to make us money . Don’t **** up your play and turn it into a losing one by being retarded . Like if he folds to a steal 90% and has a 3% 3 bet , and he 3 bets you , just give the hand up . Do not turn an otherwise profitable play into an unprofitable one by getting stupid . No harm in folding there
Now that we know who our ideal targets are for stealing lets talk about what to steal with . Keep in mind 70% is a money making play with any 2 cards , obviously your not going to find 70% at all your tables . The tighter they are , the more you can steal , the more they defend , the tighter you have to get . Lets look at a 37% range for our steals .
Using stove we see this is all pairs , any A suited and unsuited , all suited Ks , 56o +, and 86s+ . Play around with stove and see what you are comfortable with . As you can see , this is a very wide range . So as your opponent gets lower and lower than 80%with his fold to steals , the better your post flop skills need to be in order to show a profitable play . I will leave the post flop strat out of this thread , that’s another topic for a different discussion .
3ballin and shot callin itt !
3 betting is done for 2 reasons . As a bluff , and for value . Lets talk about 3 bet bluffing preflop . This is fairly easy to explain . We are 3 betting a hand that we expect to not be the best hand right now , but the table dynamic and the math says it is a good play . Doing some math we can see that if we 3x our villians open we need him to fold to a 3 bet 70% of the time to show an outright profit . This means that even if we check fold all flops or fold to all 4 bets , we still make money on the play !
Good hands to 3 bet bluff . The ideal 3 bet bluff hand is a suited A or a suited K. like A2s , K4dd we can also throw in hands like q8off . Ideally we want to use hands that have a blocker to our villians strongest hands like Ax and Kx . I usually use suited hands when 3 bet bluffing but hands like A5o are good ones too . Keep in mind how you are going to proceed if villian takes a different action other than folding . If he 4 bets , were done with the hand . Again , don’t **** up a profitable play by spewing the times it doesn’t work out how we thought it would .
3 Betting for value.
Whats this mean ? It is when we 3 bet when we logically have the best hand . We need to know our villians fold to 3 bet % stat here . I also use this in my hud . Lets say we have a 17/14 mp player with a fold to 3 bet of 50% . We can 3 bet him fairly wide for value because he is continuing with roughly 7% of his original hands. ( He opens 14% and folds 50% of that to our 3 bet , so he continues with 7% of his hands here ) So simply plug in his 7% into stove and see how many hands you can 3 bet against it for profit . This range is different for most players . Some continue with only pocket pairs and say AQ . Other guys may continue with only broadway cards . This is where your notes come into play ( you did take notes amirite ? )
3 betting hands that look pretty , but actually are not .
This is the 3 betting topic that will create the most controversy I promise . These are hands like KK , Ak , qq , and jj . There are a lot of times you should NOT 3 bet these hands . Wait wut ? Leroy is high today . Lol No . lets look at a good tag or nit from ep . He is 13/10 with a fold to 3 bet of 90% . If we 3 bet him AND he continues , he is doing it with a 1% range that’s like AA KK and AK . And now he shoves and you hate life So you can see he has us crushed when he continues . He also folds too much to the 3 bet anyhow and we have a great hand here . Lets not turn it into a bluff in scenarios like this we are much better off calling ip and playing some poker post flop . ( 3 bet bluff the stuffing out of this guy tho )Always keep in mind how you expect your opponent to react to your action . Use your hud stats
3 betting from out of the blinds .
Playing against a good stealer when your in the blinds sucks . Your out of position for the hand vs. a good player . Lets take our ideal tag stealer . We will call him 15/12 with a 40% ats . We need to know his fold vs. resteal % in order to know how out of line we can get . Obviously we are going to 3 bet him with all of our value hands , but we also need to 3 bet him as a bluff as well . Keep in mind , he is a good player , so he is entitled to make money there off of his steals and you really cant do anything about it . It is what it is . You can however take actions that will back him off a bit . This is where your 3 bet bluffing comes into play . I like to use the same hands I 3 bet bluff from the button as well . Tightened up a bit because I am oop . Hands like suited Aces and big connectors like Kqs are good candidates . Also small pairs . I can explain this further if need be , just ask .
4 Betting
Again , 4 betting is the same as 3 betting . It is either for value or as a bluff . Keep in mind that a 4 bet creates an spr that does not allow for fancy post flop play . You need to know exactly how you are going to continue before you make the 4 bet . 4 bets are usually about 25% of your stack , so don’t **** this up or it will get expensive very fast . In 3 and 4 bet bluff spots preflop , you want your opponent to have a wide opening range , but a small continuing range . Ie; you want lots of good fold equity . Normally you don’t have a lot of stats to see how your opponent responds to 4 bets . In these cases you can use their fold to 3 bet stats to get a decent idea of how they respond to 4 bets . It is not going to be perfect , but it will give you a decent idea of what he is going to do .
Spots to 4 bet.
Usually we are 4 betting with the intention of getting the money in preflop . Those hands usually play themselves so I wont elaborate on them here . If you want we can discuss it . So were looking at 4 bet bluffing . Usually when bluffing you want to be in position . Say we steal and the blind has a fold versus steal of 45% and he 3 bets us . His fold to 3 bet is 87% . We can 4 bet him as a bluff with hands like Ax and Kx . Also note , why the hell did you open light in the first place when you could logically expect him to 3 bet us anyhow ?
The 4 bet bluff that rainbows are made of ?
You shouldn’t be using this play a lot , but when the situation is set up for it , it is beautiful . It is the cold 4 bet bluff . Here is what we are looking for . Position does not really matter for this play , but usually you are going to be either in late position or in the blinds . What you are looking for is a spot where like a 14/12 with a 90% fold to 3 bet opens from say mp . An aggressive 3 bettor say a 16/14 with a 10% 3 bet 3 bets the original raiser . You are in the blinds with A4offsuit . This is an awesome spot for a cold 4 bet bluff . Your opponents are not going to put you on a bluff here . You have just shown A LOT of strength in their eyes and generally you are going to have a **** ton of fold equity here . You also have a blocker to their strongest hands .
I didn’t go into great detail I know , but I wanted to create some discussion . So please ask questions . They help everyone get better
One last thing . As said , DO NOT take an otherwise profitable play and **** it all up by spewing when it does not go your way . You took a good set up and it didn’t pan out . Fold and move on to the next hand . If you are not disciplined enough to lay hands down , then you ARE going to spew .
Please discuss .
This post will be a bit advanced for a beginner . This is more like one of the steps to intermediate level poker . A beginner should be learning a solid tag strategy . If you are still trying to get that down , then the plays and things I am going to talk about will probably turn you into a spew monkey .
Poker is about information :
You need to understand how and why a play will work before you can use it properly . You need to be able to handread fairly well to become a good poker player . This requires information . You need enough hands against your opponent to be able to know what he is doing . We have all been in a hand where the villian is unknown and we have 0 hands on them and have nfi how to continue . This is not an ideal opponent to bluff . You have no clue how he is going to respond to your play . Don’t get fancy here , just play straight forward
What I am going to talk about is best used against regs and opponents we have a decent enough hand sample on to figure out ranges properly
Now lets get into some bacon and potatoes
For simplicity , we are going to be on the button for all scenarios described from here on out unless specified .
I think about a full ring poker table as 2 games in one . Both games revolve around the button . The first game is the players to act before us when we are on the button . The second game is when it is folded to us on the button , and we have only the blinds left .
We will start out with stealing . What hands do we steal with ? How often can we do it ? What are we looking for in order to steal ? Why is stealing even important , its only a tiny pot ?
Calm the F down , im gonna answer this for you
Why is stealing even important ?
Stealing is important for many reasons . Lets say you are not stealing often enough , and you are a break even player . If you get off even 1 steal per 100 hands , you just increased your winrate by 1.5bb/100 The better you get at poker , the more you look for edges , a lot of small edges add up to 1 big edge if that makes sense . You need to be a good stealer to be a good player .
How often should we be stealing ?
I asked my coach Mikes007 this question and he said what do you think ? I said 20% sounds about right . He loled at me and called me a nooblet
J/K . He said something that was so simple and I just never thought of . He asked me “whats your equity when it is only you and the blinds left ? “I said I have nfi lol . He says” ok . If all 3 of you go all in every time how often do you win ? “ I just had one of those aha moments and it was clear to me . 33.33% . That’s my equity . Now I also have the best seat at the table because I have position for the entire hand So 33% is baseline Of course you can go much higher than this when the conditions are right , but 33% is the lowest you want to go . You can go as high as 100% ,Sometimes you have to tighten this up considerably when the conditions are wrong tho .
What are we looking for in order to steal ?
You want the blinds to be nits/tags usually . They understand the importance of position , so they hate playing out of position . You also know the importance of position , as well as seat selection right ? That’s why you put those nits/tags on your left .You want to know how often he is going to fold vs. your steal . I use fold vs. steal in my hud stats . If we use a standard 3bb open , we need the blinds to fold at about 68% to break even on our steal . At 70% fold vs. steal we are printing cheeseburgers with any2 cards even if we don’t put another dime in the pot ever . That last part of that statement is important . I am gonna go off on a tangent here for a second to explain . We just found a mathematically proven play to make us money . Don’t **** up your play and turn it into a losing one by being retarded . Like if he folds to a steal 90% and has a 3% 3 bet , and he 3 bets you , just give the hand up . Do not turn an otherwise profitable play into an unprofitable one by getting stupid . No harm in folding there
Now that we know who our ideal targets are for stealing lets talk about what to steal with . Keep in mind 70% is a money making play with any 2 cards , obviously your not going to find 70% at all your tables . The tighter they are , the more you can steal , the more they defend , the tighter you have to get . Lets look at a 37% range for our steals .
Using stove we see this is all pairs , any A suited and unsuited , all suited Ks , 56o +, and 86s+ . Play around with stove and see what you are comfortable with . As you can see , this is a very wide range . So as your opponent gets lower and lower than 80%with his fold to steals , the better your post flop skills need to be in order to show a profitable play . I will leave the post flop strat out of this thread , that’s another topic for a different discussion .
3ballin and shot callin itt !
3 betting is done for 2 reasons . As a bluff , and for value . Lets talk about 3 bet bluffing preflop . This is fairly easy to explain . We are 3 betting a hand that we expect to not be the best hand right now , but the table dynamic and the math says it is a good play . Doing some math we can see that if we 3x our villians open we need him to fold to a 3 bet 70% of the time to show an outright profit . This means that even if we check fold all flops or fold to all 4 bets , we still make money on the play !
Good hands to 3 bet bluff . The ideal 3 bet bluff hand is a suited A or a suited K. like A2s , K4dd we can also throw in hands like q8off . Ideally we want to use hands that have a blocker to our villians strongest hands like Ax and Kx . I usually use suited hands when 3 bet bluffing but hands like A5o are good ones too . Keep in mind how you are going to proceed if villian takes a different action other than folding . If he 4 bets , were done with the hand . Again , don’t **** up a profitable play by spewing the times it doesn’t work out how we thought it would .
3 Betting for value.
Whats this mean ? It is when we 3 bet when we logically have the best hand . We need to know our villians fold to 3 bet % stat here . I also use this in my hud . Lets say we have a 17/14 mp player with a fold to 3 bet of 50% . We can 3 bet him fairly wide for value because he is continuing with roughly 7% of his original hands. ( He opens 14% and folds 50% of that to our 3 bet , so he continues with 7% of his hands here ) So simply plug in his 7% into stove and see how many hands you can 3 bet against it for profit . This range is different for most players . Some continue with only pocket pairs and say AQ . Other guys may continue with only broadway cards . This is where your notes come into play ( you did take notes amirite ? )
3 betting hands that look pretty , but actually are not .
This is the 3 betting topic that will create the most controversy I promise . These are hands like KK , Ak , qq , and jj . There are a lot of times you should NOT 3 bet these hands . Wait wut ? Leroy is high today . Lol No . lets look at a good tag or nit from ep . He is 13/10 with a fold to 3 bet of 90% . If we 3 bet him AND he continues , he is doing it with a 1% range that’s like AA KK and AK . And now he shoves and you hate life So you can see he has us crushed when he continues . He also folds too much to the 3 bet anyhow and we have a great hand here . Lets not turn it into a bluff in scenarios like this we are much better off calling ip and playing some poker post flop . ( 3 bet bluff the stuffing out of this guy tho )Always keep in mind how you expect your opponent to react to your action . Use your hud stats
3 betting from out of the blinds .
Playing against a good stealer when your in the blinds sucks . Your out of position for the hand vs. a good player . Lets take our ideal tag stealer . We will call him 15/12 with a 40% ats . We need to know his fold vs. resteal % in order to know how out of line we can get . Obviously we are going to 3 bet him with all of our value hands , but we also need to 3 bet him as a bluff as well . Keep in mind , he is a good player , so he is entitled to make money there off of his steals and you really cant do anything about it . It is what it is . You can however take actions that will back him off a bit . This is where your 3 bet bluffing comes into play . I like to use the same hands I 3 bet bluff from the button as well . Tightened up a bit because I am oop . Hands like suited Aces and big connectors like Kqs are good candidates . Also small pairs . I can explain this further if need be , just ask .
4 Betting
Again , 4 betting is the same as 3 betting . It is either for value or as a bluff . Keep in mind that a 4 bet creates an spr that does not allow for fancy post flop play . You need to know exactly how you are going to continue before you make the 4 bet . 4 bets are usually about 25% of your stack , so don’t **** this up or it will get expensive very fast . In 3 and 4 bet bluff spots preflop , you want your opponent to have a wide opening range , but a small continuing range . Ie; you want lots of good fold equity . Normally you don’t have a lot of stats to see how your opponent responds to 4 bets . In these cases you can use their fold to 3 bet stats to get a decent idea of how they respond to 4 bets . It is not going to be perfect , but it will give you a decent idea of what he is going to do .
Spots to 4 bet.
Usually we are 4 betting with the intention of getting the money in preflop . Those hands usually play themselves so I wont elaborate on them here . If you want we can discuss it . So were looking at 4 bet bluffing . Usually when bluffing you want to be in position . Say we steal and the blind has a fold versus steal of 45% and he 3 bets us . His fold to 3 bet is 87% . We can 4 bet him as a bluff with hands like Ax and Kx . Also note , why the hell did you open light in the first place when you could logically expect him to 3 bet us anyhow ?
The 4 bet bluff that rainbows are made of ?
You shouldn’t be using this play a lot , but when the situation is set up for it , it is beautiful . It is the cold 4 bet bluff . Here is what we are looking for . Position does not really matter for this play , but usually you are going to be either in late position or in the blinds . What you are looking for is a spot where like a 14/12 with a 90% fold to 3 bet opens from say mp . An aggressive 3 bettor say a 16/14 with a 10% 3 bet 3 bets the original raiser . You are in the blinds with A4offsuit . This is an awesome spot for a cold 4 bet bluff . Your opponents are not going to put you on a bluff here . You have just shown A LOT of strength in their eyes and generally you are going to have a **** ton of fold equity here . You also have a blocker to their strongest hands .
I didn’t go into great detail I know , but I wanted to create some discussion . So please ask questions . They help everyone get better
One last thing . As said , DO NOT take an otherwise profitable play and **** it all up by spewing when it does not go your way . You took a good set up and it didn’t pan out . Fold and move on to the next hand . If you are not disciplined enough to lay hands down , then you ARE going to spew .
Please discuss .
Nice post I think. 
