benvelezp

Well, all we have is A high, so i think we benefit from having max fold equity vs 2nd or 3rd pair. Those hands have lots of equity vs our draw. If we bet small, the spr on the turn will be such that they'll be priced in to call with 2nd pair and maybe even 3rd pair, although i guess it would be quite good if you expect them to fold out 2nd and 3rd pairs to a 60% pot jam on the turn. I think loose fishy players might not be making those folds though.

Eurocrat im not sure about betting small and getting in on any turn. Wouldnt that just allow the villains to realize equity and get priced in with just about any pair?

Thanks guys, i did just go all in. I just wasnt sure if it was the right way to go about it. Binked the diamond on the river ;)

I really like RunItTw1ce suggestion to replace raw equity hands with hands that have robust equity. In these very small stake games you see a lot more multiway action and hands that are suited and connected like JTs are going to have more equity vs the field than a hand like A8o which won't have much equity vs the field but has more raw equity than JTs.
Basically suited and connected hands are going to perform better vs multiple callers compared to offsuit broadways.

I would say that population at NL10 doesn't 3 bet enough. So I would give some respect to this range until we can get more stats from the Villain, so far no 3 bets but it's only been 13 hands.
Vs this size 3 bet i think i'm only proceeding through a 4 bet/fold with your exact hand.
The way the hand was played, I don't see how you can re raise flop. You block the main hand you're trying to make fold, over pairs are never folding and there's draws to continue for the possible bluffs he may or may not have.

I would prefer a small bet on the flop. You're 3 ways so you could use some protection from over cards and can get value from flush draws and maybe even some middling pairs.

As played it's a very clear call on flop and natural check on turn, on the river its very close, I think i would call just given the hand was played so passively.

Definitely don't like the way the hand was played, it doesn't give any clarity about the villain's range and on large river bets it's going to be hard to know where your hand stands. It's possible villain may try to bluff you given your ch ch/c ch line, but villain was also able to realize their equity so they could have easily backed into a pair of kings or a straight. He could just have AT the way it played.
He could just be taking a stab on the flop, so since it went check check on turn I think a big part of his range is largely untouched. So it's possible he has more combos of Kx than you may expect.

Yeah michael is right on, as long as you play a reasonable range you're already far above the average NL2 player.

I think the best thing you can do if you're just getting into the game is first focus on the fundamentals and solid poker before you start trying to deviate your strategy vs fish.
Once you can play a fundamentally sound game is when you should turn your focus on deviating from the fundamentals in an exploitative manner.
So i would tell you to just play the 25.5% range from the cutoff until you feel comfortable with it, then when you feel comfortable playing that range you can start to experiment with the exploitative strategy of this spot in Grinder's manual.

Some of those assumptions are very problematic for NL2.

First off, you're going to find a ton more loose players than nits at this level. Giving them such an amazing price to flat from the BB is going to allow them to realize their equity, which is quite bad for you because they're getting the right price to do that and you allow them to play correctly. Grindr's exploit expects them to overfold, which might not be happening at NL2. (good stats on the BB are going to allow you to take the best line)

As far as varying your opening sizes, i actually do quite the opposite. I tend to size down early position and size up late position.You have the edge if you're in position when you go postflop because it will allow you to realize more equity and generally win more pots. So you benefit from playing bigger pots in position vs smaller pots out of position.

GTO includes all hands they can push any type of edge with. If they're winning any fraction of a BB playing the hand it will be included in the opening range. What I'm trying to say, is alot of these marginal hands can be dropped until you improve your skill because its unlikely you'll be able to derive a significant amount of EV from some of the worst hands in this range. I think it would be reasonable to drop some of the worst hands from the button. Nothing crazy, maybe drop like 5% of the worst hands. I also like Jeff's suggestion to drop a couple hands from CO. Other ranges seem fine, i might even include all the small pairs even from UTG(LJ). I think you'll see a very small frequency of 3 bets at this level so you can probably get away with set mining from UTG. This is something that can be adjusted when you notice the 3 betting increase.

I'd be really hard pressed to fold a jack here. I like your line but do you really expect to get folds from Jx? i think you're mainly targeting under pairs to the jack and all the missed draws as the second king is a pretty huge brick, The only problem with that is that you block some of his draws holding the 76s but atleast you unblock diamonds. Given the way the hand played out, you really have no choice but to bluff this river.

I should also clarify, I'm rarely 3 betting QTo. It's a very low frequency play but i would consider it the bottom of my range.

I think that's fair, i was really stepping out of construction in this hand.
Let me know what you think, but i think there is some merit in battling it out sometimes with hands like these as long as its done very infrequently.

If we assume he's only shoving trips straights and JJ as a bluff and doesn't call pre with J9. Then we have 19 combos that have us beat, and 15 combos that we beat. That being said I would start to discount some combos of 22 and TT as they are unlikely to check back on the flop at a high frequency. So that would take it to 9 combos that we beat. In that case you still have just 32% and it would be a marginally losing call.

Let me know if you find anything i did incorrectly (its likely)

This river shove seems very value heavy, I wonder if there is any possibility of a bluff here. The combos we give villain are going to be dependent on what type of player they are. It would be awesome if you could share some insight into how you perceived this player leading up to this point.

If you think he's the tighter type, i think we can start eliminating J9 combos that would likely fold to a 3 bet. On top of that he just called the turn, J9 should start raising on the turn given that there is a flush draw and some action killers that could come in on the river. Unless its Jh 9h. So i think we can eliminate the majority of these combos if not all, unless he's a very loose player.

On the turn with the 1/2 pot bet. How often do you think he continues with just an A high gut shot? Its possible he just thinks you have air and wants too see what you do on the river, but mostly I think he'll be folding out some of his AJ except obviously Ah Jh.
He could also sometimes value bet worst. The only problem with that is that you block a lot of the reasonable two pairs he could have. KK seems unlikely as he didn't 4 bet, although still possible. I think KQ, KT, TT and 88 are the most likely hands he could be shoving for value that are worst.

If we only include J9s, all combos of AJ and add KK, we have 23 combinations that beat us. And including KQ KTs TT 88 and even JJ as a bluff, that makes up for 17 combos that we beat.
If we begin to include all the J9o combos plus some KT offsuit. It goes way up to 34 combos that have us beat vs 24 combos that we beat.

On both scenarios you're winning around 40% of the time. And you need to win 36% of the time to break even based on pot odds.

Michael very good point about preflop. I generally size up here too, about 14.5x (.72), not sure why i didn't this time. I don't really go crazy 3 betting from the blinds but i like to take opportunities to attack weak formations like Co raise button flat, and just generally late position opens and flats. Generally my worst 3 bet hands will be offsuit paint like QT but i decided to try it out with this suited K. This is a play that happens at a super low frequency.

I was worried on the flop that their flatting range was likely to contain some Kx that had me dominated. But once it checked through on the flop and the SB went for another check on the turn, it seemed obvious to me i had the best hand.
The reason i decided to go with the hand was the weird line from SB. He has a very natural check on the flop to the 3 better. So he still retains Kx as well as other strong hands in his range even through a check. But once it checks through on the flop, it seems like his Kx and stronger hands want to start getting value and should start leading. But he opts to check a second time when he has the opportunity to seize the lead in the pot.
Does this ring alarm bells to anyone else??

This is a very low frequency 3 bet. I'm not just doing this every time i have a playable hand in BB. It was a Button raise and sb call so i figured i could attack this formation as it was likely the ranges here couldn't stand much pressure.
I find flats from the SB to never be super strong hands, same can be said about the range in a button open when its folded to the button.

I have a similar problem trying to post hands from ignition. Anyone posted hands from ignition here? If so any suggestions?

I copy pasted from the hand history file on the site. I'm assuming ignition is supported since its bovada, but it doesn't work.

I would love to try the run it once poker site, maybe give that one a shot if its available where you're at. I think they're having pretty ridiculous rake back deals going on now.

I'm in FL where there is no regulated online poker sites. So the best choice in my area (imo) is ignition casino.

It's very relevant what country you're in. Certain sites are only available in certain countries, and/or certain states if you're in the u.s.

Hmm, well wouldn't you be in bad shape equity wise against all those combos?
I guess that's only one part of his range.
I wonder how A5s/A4s does against a reasonable UTG (LJ) raise call range. I might have to look into it.
I think to 3 bet this hand vs UTG (LJ) you would have to assume Villain is going to overfold

I like your approach but i wouldn't include hands like A4/A5. Not sure they're doing that great vs UTG range.

I think whether you 3 bet polar or linear is also very dependent on the type of player/s you're up against.
If you're up against very loose call happy players you can 3 bet linear in position since you will need to go postflop a lot and you'll have very good playable hands that are going to win very often against trash holdings.
However, in a tighter environment 3 betting polar could be the best choice since these players are going to respond properly to 3 bets and will defend with decent hands. There you can 3 bet your worst hands knowing you can potentially fold out better hands and also 3 bet your best hands for value.

Or you could have a draw that has enough equity to win that % of the time. Unless its the river of course.

I think i would gather all my things, check the sit out next hand box, and get ready to take a break right before i call while hating my life.

The hand really is irrelevant. I was using it to learn how to post hands on this site the same way I've seen some of the other members post them. Once again any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

I would bet bigger on the flop, maybe like 2/3 pot. Villain could have flopped a 9 or 7, a flush draw, an open ended SD or a gut shot.
On the Qc turn you can definitely check for pot control as this is a good card for the preflop caller.

As you played it:
On the 2h river, I would bet 1/4 pot for thin value to get called by a 9, a 7, 88, TT, or JJ. I don't see Villain having many Qx.