AlastairCunning

Feel like I'm reading my own thoughts here. After Phil's last HUPLO vid I asked an almost identical question in a spot where the board texture was as you describe, but his holding was over pair + nut FD. He went for a c-bet in that spot but said that he does have a x/r range that's made up of value hands that don't mind it going check-check (which seems like a pretty narrow/nutty range). He said nothing of x/r bluffs though. I'd be curious to know what he thinks about it because you're right: if we want to have much of an x/r range vs a vaguely decent opponent, we need to have some pure bluffs too.

Great stuff as always, Phil.

At 25.25 on the left table after you 3bet and flop an over pair + nut FD on a somewhat unfavourable board for our range, you explain why this is nonetheless a value bet, and I totally get it in a vacuum. But, unless I'm missing something, since we always need to be mindful of balance, and given that it's a board that somewhat favours his range, isn't it quite hard to find enough pure bluff hands (ideally with appropriate blockers) that we'd be happy to c-bet/fold? If that's correct, isn't our c-betting range on this board going to be very value heavy and so give him the chance to make some tight (but correct) folds vs us, thus strengthening his continuing range massively?

So, two questions arising from that. 1) Is this a spot in which we simply don't need to worry about broadcasting the strength of our hand given its current value + nut and counterfeiting out potential on future streets? 2) And if we do need to take balance concerns seriously, what kinds of hands would you be wanting to pure bluff at that board with to force him to continue with a wider range against our value range? Something like AK88 with A or K of hearts makes sense, but I'm struggling to find all that many other suitable candidates that wouldn't want to take a different line. Argh, and finally, do you effectively have zero check/raising range here?

I ask because I often make some very tight folds in villain's spot vs players I consider to be either playing simply based on the strength of their hand, or those whose bluffs embody a basic understanding of the interaction of board textures and ranges.

(Sorry for the over-long comment!)

Alastair

Oddsen for President.

As the time ticked down and your stack was dwindling I confess I was already lamenting that Jedi got the better of you in this one. But no! Phil lives to snap call another day. Can't wait for the next installment. Even though I'm a HUPLO cash player for the most part, I'm finding this series exceptionally informative. Keep it up Phil.

One of my favourite videos of yours for a while, Phil. And that's saying something.

I especially liked the general comments (backed up with a couple of timely examples) about using a balanced strategy to counteract the feeling of being run over. I played a session immediately after watching this and my game felt so unusually solid I almost felt sorry for my opponents. Keep up the good work.

Alastair