I think he never has a set pre, as I doubt he is ever going to be 3betting a hand with no blockers against me OOP in a hand with zero dead money in the pot. The great thing with live games is that players who have talent rarely have to actually use it, since the game is really just about winning at showdown and taking apart the players who are playing 50+% of hands.
If we were to include some combos of sets, we then also have to include combos of 77-TT that we otherwise might not bother with, which leaves us in an even better spot to bet the board down hard, both with AA for value and AK as a semi-bluff (if we want to get frisky) which I would definitely do for at least one bet, then depending on the run out might go for if I am feeling particularly ambitious.
Dream turn card. I’m probably betting 400 as it’s probably small enough to entice him to call with his better pairs drawing to two outs. That leaves us with a slightly larger than half PSB on the river, and we need to force him to make a fold with QQ/JJ. I feel like when in doubt even against decent live players at these stakes, just keep it simple, bet for value, and force them to make tough laydowns.
I can also see the merit in checking back if we don’t think he’s ever calling all 3 streets with JJ-KK, and we can bet like 850 on the river to make it look like a bluff attempt with AK because there are so few scary rivers for us.
Sorry been on holiday the last few days. Forgot I didnt finish the hand.
I bet 500 into 1100 to set up the river shove and he folded, flashing 9s.
Interestingly he said he would change his decision with Queens, which for mine seems wrong. I think both hands are essentially worth the same when I take such a strong line. Also think 9s is a pretty bad 3bet pre unless he thinks I’m opening about 80% of hands.
Hand #2
This one is more interesting and hand 1 kind of sets up this hand. Still 2/5nlhe AUD (shade less than USD)
I cover with 3.5k (CO)
Same opponent (BB this hand) who is quite good has 2800
SB is a huge wildcard with about 700 to start the hand.
Straddler is new to the game but from all reports a fairly ABC guy with a bit of gamble to him.
Buttons an old lady who is tight.
Straddler straddles to 10 his first orbit of the night.
Folds to me with a suited Queen. I elect to raise to 35.
Question is what is the worst suited queen you raise with in this type of live game.
For me prob Q8 as long as I have a reasonable image. People don’t 3b much live and people play fit/fold a ton, so your hand matters way less than what you might think
So I’ve been messing around at the .02/.05 and 0.05/0.10 tables for the first time playing online in roughly 10 years. Up about 400 bucks in I’m not tracking my hands number of hands
The rake is ridiculous
Someone has taught people to cb small with big hands then overbet turn. Too many people do this and it’s a pretty hilarious bet sizing tell.
Competent players are double barreling at pretty insane rates
Players at this level have no concept of absolute vs relative hand strength.
3b% seems way up and there seems to be a general consensus against flatting pre and playing poker in position among people who seem competent.
Stack a donk is still my favorite line
Basic things like turning a straight draw into a bluff when the flush hits seems to still work
Fwiw cbet small and overbet the turn is the standard on a decent number of runouts. They’re probably under bluffing at 5NL and 10NL but it’s a bitch to play against when someone is bluffing it at anywhere close to a reasonable frequency because you have to make a bunch of uncomfortable calldowns, especially if they’re following through with the river jam enough.
I know it’s “standard”, I clearly can tell that it’s a thing. It just seems stupid and exploitable to me, but admittedly I’m not using a pokersolver or anything. It’s not hard to combat, especially in position.
Results: We actually raised Q8s. With the button being a tight nit, we basically have the button, have a great winning image, have position and generally fuck it these hands are fun to play. With the straddle in play there is even more dead money out and about, so lets go and get it.
The button folds, the small blind calls (he will be pretty wide here, probably only folds the bottom 30% of hands). BB calls (I expect him to 3bet this hand a decent chunk, maybe top 8-10% of hands) and not go too far down the list in terms of total hands. The straddler folds
FLOP: 125: Tc 9s 4h, We have Q8 of spades for a backdoor flush draw as well as one over card and a gutshot.
Small blind checks pretty quickly, BB checks in rhythm.
I would like to think in that spot I’m pretty balanced and check, bet 1/3 and bet 1/2 like 33% of the time each. Don’t think any of them are a major mistake on that texture. You’re getting peeled by a ton of hands that want to see a card or have a mediocre hand on that board that will fold to most turns.
Depending on the villains I might bet 1/3 more often and just widen my range and include all suited wheel Ax, AJ+, all broadway combos, basically anything with a gutter.
This big shift towards balanced play is baffling to me. It’s been awhile since I’ve been playing seriously, but not so long that a focus on balance wasn’t there at all. Admittedly this might be the ‘old man back in my day’ bullshit that is entirely outdated, but I always saw ‘balanced’ as a pretty stupid strategy as it really only mattered when playing against other players who could effectively exploit you. Balanced play leaves a lot of money on the table against exploitable players. No sense in ever bluffing a turn against an utter moron who was never folding for the sake of being balanced.
I especially don’t understand balanced play on anonymous tables. Back in the day, I would have 20k+ hands against the same few regs. I could see an argument against playing balanced against them. Live poker? Shit dude I’m not worried about balance with seat 5 just took a bump in the bathroom and has 3k in front of them.
I always saw poker as a few key things:
Don’t fucking tilt. If you feel tilt, fucking leave/stop. This was probably my best skill as a player.
Identify the bad player, isolate the bad player, frustrate the bad player, and take their moniez
Reg wars are usually stupid dick measuring contests with little profitability. Sure there’s some bad regs out there, but firing off at decent to good regs is rarely worth the small profit combined with increased variance.
Doesn’t really matter though, as I’m very happily a rec player so y’all can suck it. This little foray back into online poker has been interesting for me though. I fucking hated poker for a long time after I stopped playing. Don’t hate it anymore. This 50 buy-in heater I’m on is nice.
