Jeff Hwang Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha II
Jeff Hwang Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha II
Jeff Hwang Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha II
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Variable-Ratio Reinforcement
Part I: Continuation Bet (C-Bet) Frequency
C-Betting: Applying Variable-Ratio Reinforcement
Sample Variable-Ratio Reinforcement Schedules
C-Betting in Position: Practice Situations
Part II: The LAG Approach
Opening Fire on the Blinds
Playing Out of Position: The Impact of Stack Sizes
Attacking the Limper
Facing a Raise in Position: 3-Betting vs. Small Ball
Playing from the Blinds
LAG Play: Post-Flop Play
Controlling the Turn-River: The Check-Back Range and The Float
Playing Out of Position After the Flop
C-Betting Situations: Out of Position
Special Insert: Playing In Deep-Stack Ante Games
Hand Walkthroughs Part III: Opening Fire on the Blinds
Part IV: Attacking the Limper
Part V: Playing Out of Position
Part VI: 3-Betting in Position vs. Small Ball
Part VII: Blind Defense
Closing Thoughts
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Glossary
To Billy Talent, the greatest rock band America has never heard of; and to everyone who has made it this far with me.
Introduction
The basic philosophy is this: Defend the button, attack the blinds, and 3-bet at your discretion.
In Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume I: Small Ball and Shorthanded Play (APLO Vol. I), we talked in depth about defending the button
(Small Ball), or flat-calling in position against a pre-flop raiser, and using the positional advantage to control both pot size and our
opponent via the float. We also discussed 3-betting before the flop in position (situational LAG) as well, both in low stack-to-pot ratio
(SPR) Pump-and-Shove scenarios and in deep-stack, mid-to highSPR tactical scenarios.
Now that we have mastered the loose-passive pre-flop, Small Ball elements of our overall playing strategy, we can turn our collective
attention to our elements of pre-flop attack: loose-aggressive (LAG) pre-flop tactics. These elements are:
1. Opening fire on the blinds
2. Attacking the limper
3. 3-betting in position
In APLO Volume I, we covered the basics of blind stealing and playing behind a limper in our discussion on Small Ball (Part IV), while
3-betting before the flop (Part V) was also covered in detail. Here in Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II: LAG Play (APLO Vol. II) , we
will examine these LAG tactics in greater depth in order to allow you to comfortably -- and profitably -- open up your game even
further than before.
Using This Book This book is designed to provide as little or as much case study as you, the reader, may require in order to grasp its
ideas. It is meant to be an exhaustive -- but efficient -- study of LAG play.
We begin by applying the concept of variable-ratio reinforcement to continuation bet frequencies in Part I: C-Bet Frequency. Then in
Part II: The LAG Approach, we will discuss our LAG approach both before and after the flop. This will be followed by a discussion on
playing in deep-stack ante games, which have become prevalent online in the year since APLO Vol. I was published.
But then, following Part II, our focus shifts squarely from theory to application.
Parts III through VII contain hand walkthroughs -- case studies, if you will -- covering the three LAG elements: opening fire on the
blinds, attacking the limper, and 3-betting before the flop in position. The hand walkthroughs in each of those chapters are arranged
by order of increasing stakes, with the exception of the beginning -- each chapter starts with hands from $2-$4 blind play, followed by
$0.25-$0.50, $0.50-$1 and $1-$2 blind games, and then deep-stack ante games ranging from $0.50-$1 with $0.20 antes ($200-max) to
$2-$4 with $0.75 antes ($800-max).
That said, I recommend that you start by reading only the $2-$4 blind hands your first time through the book, and then go back and
use the remaining hands for additional study as desired.
Part III: Opening Fire on the Blinds includes 80 hands representing the most basic element of LAG play. Part IV: Attacking the Limper
(33 hands) covers the second element of LAG play. Part V: Playing Out of Position (64 hands) deals with situations in which you have
opened with a raise but wind up playing out of position after the flop, either because you raised and got called or 3-bet by a player
with position on you, or because you were in the blinds and raised into either the big blind or a limper.
Part VI: 3-Betting in Position vs. Small Ball (85 hands) deals with situations in which a player has opened with a raise in front of you,
and you have a choice between flat-calling and playing Small Ball, or 3-betting in position -- our third element of LAG play.
Part VII: Blind Defense (29 hands) covers situations in which you are in the blinds and out of position against the pre-flop raiser, and
must choose between calling, 3-betting out of position -- a play that is generally not recommended -- or otherwise folding.
All of the hands in this book are from short-handed online play, though these strategies and case studies apply to live play as well.
By now, if you have read both my first book, Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy (PLOP) and Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha
Vol. I: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play (APLO Vol. I) , you should have acquired virtually all of the technical skills and concept
knowledge you need to play PLO at an advanced level. You should have a thorough comprehension of big-pot science, the straight
draws in PLO, and starting hand construction from Pot-Limit Omaha Poker. You should also be familiar with floating and SPR, as well
as the application of advanced skills such as check-raising, checking-and-calling (check-calling), and picking off bluffs as discussed
in APLO Vol. I.
The text that follows assumes that you are familiar with these concepts.
And now, without wasting any more time on introductions, lets talk about the key concept that drives our approach to c-betting, and
in turn makes our LAG approach tick.
Variable-Ratio Reinforcement
Once you get to a certain point in your development as a poker player -- once youve learned hand valuations and attained the
necessary technical skills to play the game -- the next big step to opening up your game is figuring out how to regulate your
opponents behavior in such a way as to make them easier to play against. That is, the next step is founded in large part on
psychology.
Enter variable-ratio reinforcement.
Variable-Ratio Reinforcement
Variable-ratio reinforcement is generally defined as delivering reinforcement after a target behavior is exhibited a random number of
times.
Lets take a slot machine, for example. A gambler sits down at a slot machine and bets $1 a pull. Now as you would expect, most of
the time, the gambler will bet $1 and lose, which of course is great for the casino. But if all the gambler does is bet $1 and lose every
time, eventually he will quit (and/or go broke) and never want to play again. And so every few spins, the slot machine will reward the
gambler with a payoff: $1 here, $1 there; $5 here, $1 there.
And then every once in a long while, the machine will reward the gambler with a big payoff in the form of a jackpot.
Now none of this quite adds up, which is how the house wins in the long run. But the promise of the big payoff, along with the
intermittent rewards, is generally enough for the casino to reinforce the target behavior, which is to have the gambler keep betting $1
a pull.
That brings us to our next topic, which is the reinforcement schedule.
Heres a typical situation, one that represents the majority of the hands you will encounter when playing against the blinds. You open
with a raise from the button before the flop, and only the big blind calls. The flop comes x-x-x (any three cards), and your opponent
checks. The SPR > 8.
The question is this: How often do you follow through with a continuation bet (c-bet)? 50% of the time? 75%? 100%?
The answer is that you c-bet as often as you can get away with it, without becoming a check-raise magnet. And how often that is
depends largely on your opponent.
Lets say your opponent is the type who never check-raises, never checks-and-calls, and always folds to a c-bet after he checks.
Against this opponent, you can safely follow through with a c-bet roughly 100% of the time (you might check the nuts) because you
are going to win every time you bet. But if, instead, your opponent is on the other end of the spectrum and is the type to go for a
check-raise every time he checks to you in this situation, you are basically doing one of two things:
1. Betting only the nuts or close to it, because that is better than betting air and then folding to a raise, betting a weak or
nonnut draw and then folding to a raise, or betting a marginal hand like one pair and then having to guess how good it
is when your opponent raises, or...
2. C-betting/3-betting virtually any time you catch a decent piece of the flop -- maybe even top pair or better -- if you can
stomach it.
Obviously, most players fall somewhere between those two extremes, and of course you are going to flop the nuts more than 0% of
the time as well (*again, if you were actually up against a 100% check-raiser, you might be c-betting/3-betting with a good chunk of
your range), but you get the point: Your optimal c-bet frequency is going to be player-specific and dependent on how often your
opponent check-raises, and to a lesser extent on how often he check-calls.
In a perfect world, you would simply bet every single time your opponent checks. The problem is that you are going to miss the flop
about as often as your opponents do, and -- this being Omaha -- you are going to miss (or simply not flop strong) more often than not.
As a result, if you simply bet every time, you are going to wind up getting check-raised often by your more astute opponents. This is
something you (or, at least, I) would prefer to avoid, because it makes your opponents less predictable and harder to play against,
when you really want to win the small pots where nobody really has anything without much of fight.
Obviously, against the weakest opponents who never check-raise and/or will always fold to c-bet when they check, you can go
ahead and bet every time they check. But against everybody else, you should check back from time to time, and the trickier the player
-- the more often they are willing to check-raise -- the more often you should check behind.
PLO Tip: The less likely the opponent is to check-raise, and the more likely he is to fold to a c-bet after he checks, the more often you
should follow through with a c-bet.
PLO Tip: The trickier the opponent -- the more often they check-raise, and to a lesser extent the more often they check-call with
marginal hands -- the more often you should check behind.
Target Behavior and Reinforcement Now you dont have to play a perfectly balanced game -- you just have to check back often
enough to make your opponents more predictable and easier to play against. You want them to bet when they have it and check
when they dont.
Every time you check behind reinforces the idea that you dont bet every flop, which makes those times you do bet appear stronger
by tightening your perceived betting range, while also discouraging your opponents from going for a check-raise with their strong
hands by virtue of your threat to take the free card. And every time your opponent sees you check back top pair, undertrips or
overpairs on paired boards, flush draws, gutshots, openended straight draws, etc. on the flop reinforces the idea that you dont
always have nothing every time you check behind on the flop, which will discourage your opponents (some, but not all) from blasting
away on later streets.
And again, you cater your check-back/c-bet range to your opponents, meaning that you go ahead and bet as often as you can get
away with it, while checking behind more often against your more sophisticated opponents.
This gets messy at times -- sometimes you will check and get outdrawn when your opponent would have folded to a bet, and
sometimes you flop top pair and still just have top pair on the turn when your opponent comes out firing (which you often arent
folding for one bet), etc. But nobody said the game was easy. Full-ring PLO and playing in multiway pots is fairly straightforward and
fairly easy to teach; short-handed PLO and playing in short-handed pots is a lot trickier with a lot more gray area.
In the case of the continuation bet, the target behavior is that you want your opponents to become predictable by virtually eliminating
their check-raise move, subsequently betting when they have it, and checking when they dont. And you reinforce this behavior by
checking behind with some frequency, varying that frequency based on the particular opponent.
PLO Tip: You want your opponents to bet into to you when they have it, and check when they dont.
PLO Tip: Every time you check behind reinforces the idea that you dont bet every time, which makes those times you do follow
through with a c-bet appear stronger.
Some of the decisions are fairly clear cut, while some of them are somewhat player dependent. For example, I am almost certainly
betting the strong hands -- J T 9 8 for top pair with a 13-card nut wrap and a flush draw; T T 9 9 for top set; and A A J 2
for an overpair and the nut flush draw. These are hands that I will not fold to a check-raise.
I am most likely checking K Q J T for a nut gutshot but no flush draw, having hit a pivot card (the 9) that could lead to a wrap on
the turn, as well as a fistful of overcards. This hand has a lot of potential value that I would lose if I were to bet and get check-raised, in
which case I would most likely have to fold. I am also likely checking K Q J 2 for a non-nut flush draw, as it has some value I
would lose if I were to bet and get check-raised, and then most likely have to fold.
The other two hands -- A K Q 9 for top pair and overcard improvers, and 7 6 5 4 for middle pair and a sucker wrap -- are fairly
player dependent. I would go ahead and bet these hands against weaker, more predictable opponents, but might check these hands
back against trickier opponents for pot control purposes.
So you can see how the variable ratio would change depending on the opposition, as I would bet five times out of these seven hands
against a weaker opponent, but might only bet three times and check four times against a trickier opponent. You can also see how
our play on any given flop is naturally randomized by the cards we hold in our hands.
PLO Tip: Our play on any given flop is naturally randomized by the cards we hold in our hands.
Answer: Sometimes check, sometimes bet. As in situation #9, you have top pair with a fistful of overcard outs, and with the pre-flop
initiative in a mid-SPR situation (in contrast to situation #10); the only difference is that you 3-bet in this hand. The overriding
consideration is SPR, and not the fact that you 3-bet pre-flop. In other words, it would be a mistake to say that you should c-bet top
pair when you 3-bet pre-flop, because the fact that you 3-bet is not the deciding factor.
12. Its a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt K Q T 7 on the button, and open with a raise to $7. Only
the big blind calls. The flop comes J 5 3. Your opponent checks. What do you do?
Answer: Usually check, sometimes bet. You hit the pivot card, and have a backdoor diamond draw as well. That said, you should
tend to check this. However, if your opponent is a weak player and rarely check-raises, you might venture a bet on this flop.
13. Its a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt J T 8 5 on the button, and open with a raise to $7. Only
the big blind calls. The flop comes K 7 2. Your opponent checks. What do you do?
Answer: Bet. You have no hand, no draw, and little prospect for improvement on a relatively dry board.
14. Its a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt K Q J 9 on the button, and open with a raise to $7. Only
the big blind calls. The flop comes T 6 4. Your opponent checks. What do you do?
Answer: Usually check, sometimes bet. You hit the pivot card with backdoor hearts as well. Most of the time, you should check and
take the free card. But against a truly weak opponent, betting is OK.
15. Its a $1-$2 game online, six-handed, with $200 stacks. You are dealt A K J 5 on the button, and open with a raise to $7. Only
the big blind calls. The flop comes A 8 4. Your opponent checks. What do you do?
Answer: Sometimes check, sometimes bet. This is a flop that offers some conflict, as you have top pair with a flush draw. The
problem is that your flush draw is rather weak, and as a result, you may not be able to stand a check-raise. That said, you should tend
to check back the flop and play pot-control, though you may still bet against weaker opponents.
Our LAG (loose-aggressive) pre-flop playing approach encompasses three basic elements:
1. Opening fire on the blinds
2. Attacking lone limpers in position, and to an extent
3. 3-betting in position to isolate and build the pot for value.
In other words, the basic elements are technically nothing we havent already talked about before. Our LAG approach does not so
much represent a strategy in itself completely distinct from Small Ball, but rather a shift in emphasis from pot control to attack when
playing against the blinds, when playing behind a limper, and when playing behind a pre-flop raiser. Put differently, the difference is
not in the starting hands that we play, but rather what we do with them when there is one limper or are no limpers in front of us.
Our focus is still on playing short-handed pots (heads up or three way) with the positional advantage.
Under Small Ball, we are already playing a wide variety of hands in position. However, our Small Ball strategy allows for openlimping
with a wide variety of hands from late position -- particularly the more marginal-and speculative-class hands -- where the positional
advantage tends to trump the pre-flop initiative, and where we favor pot control and ease of play over aggression, the pre-flop
initiative, and bloating pot size. That said, the more comfortable you become playing with the pre-flop initiative, the wider the range of
hands and the more often you will be able to comfortably bring it in for a raise.
Doing so will allow you to:
1. Pick up the blinds more often without a fight. You cant win the blinds pre-flop by limping. The more often you open with a
raise before the flop, the more blind money you can pick up without risking any more money.
2. Build the pot for value in a favorable situation where you have the positional advantage. The consolation prize for those
times when the blinds defend is that you will generally be in a favorable situation in which you have the positional
advantage, and now there is more money in the pot than there would have been had you merely openlimped. This is
generally an advantage, unless raising pre-flop and taking the initiative causes you to make playing errors.
3. Have the versatility to take advantage of your opponents any way you see fit, and the ability to tailor your play to both your
opponents and your opponents stack sizes. Having the ability to play both with and without the pre-flop initiative gives you
greater versatility to tailor your play to your opponents, and to your opponentsstack sizes as well. It gives you the ability to
changegears at will. You can open fire on the blinds and/or limpers, or limp in and play pot control, or otherwise force
shorter-stacked players to play deep and see a flop, should you so choose.
Its important to note that playing a predominantly LAG pre-flop style does not preclude you from playing Small Ball, and vice versa.
Playing LAG against the blinds does not mean that you cant flat call raises pre-flop in position; nor does it mean that you cant open
limp with marginal or speculative hands -- especially dry big pairs.
The point to be made is that you dont mold your playing style to fit a label; you dont say I want to be a LAG player and then copy
what LAG players do. Rather, labels such as LAG are meant to describe a general style of play, and not the other way around. In
other words, you develop your own style of play -- which may incorporate elements of both the Small Ball and LAG approaches, and
perhaps more of one approach than the other -- and then you can classify the overall body of work.
In fact, if you truly become a complete player, you should not even be able to label your overall style as one thing or the other. You
should be able to adjust your style of play to the situation and be able to vary your play between LAG and Small Ball as the situation
dictates.
Also note that playing a LAG style doesnt mean that you play LAG in every position, but rather when you are in late position, or when
you are in the hijack (and sometimes UTG in 6-handed play) and the players behind you are fairly tight. Because generally speaking,
you dont want to spend a lot of time getting caught playing heads up out of position with sub-premium hands, no matter what you
label your style of play. Consequently, when playing out of position, you still want to open with predominantly premium-class hands.
That said, our goal here is to develop the skills needed to further open up your game and enable a more LAG-heavy style of play.
Lets take a look at our LAG approach before the flop.
From the Hijack Seat Clearly, you should tighten up more from the hijack seat. You can still take some liberties if the players behind
you are fairly tight; otherwise, if the players behind you are fairly tough and/or loose, you may want to restrict your open raising
range to premium-class hands.
As we have discussed in both Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy and Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume I: Small Ball and
Short-Handed Play, the one thing you want to avoid is getting stuck playing pots heads up out of position, and especially with subpremium hands.
PLO Tip: You want to avoid getting stuck playing pots heads up out of position, and especially with sub-premium hands. With tough
and/or loose players behind you, you should tighten up your open-raising range considerably.
UTG
Playing UTG six-handed, you should be playing reasonably tight, unless the players behind you are unbelievably tight, or are really
just so weak after the flop that you just dont care.
The Size of the Raise Generally speaking, when you are on the button and there is nobody else in the hand but the blinds, you
should go ahead and bring it in for a full pot-sized raise. In other words, in a $1-$2 game online, you should go ahead and bet the full
$7, especially since it is natural in online play to simply bet the max (3.5x the big blind in this case); alternatively, in a $2-$5 game live,
it is natural to open with a raise to either $15 (3x the big blind) or $20 (4x the big blind). However, if the blinds are extremely tight, but
you have a hand like Q-J-T-9 doublesuited and you really want to see the flop, you might consider bringing it in for a minimum raise to
encourage action.
Not only is a pot-sized raise the most natural bet size in online play, it is the one that has the greatest chance of either picking up the
blinds, isolating limpers, or otherwise resulting in a heads-up pot in position after the flop. In addition, a full pot-sized raise also
maximizes the value of the positional advantage by building a bigger pot before the flop than a smaller raise would.
When playing out of position, you really need to consider the purpose of the raise. If you are opening fire on the blinds, then you
should probably bring it in for the full raise. If, on the other hand, the players behind you are fairly loose but you still want to juice the
pot a little, you might consider bringing it in for a smaller raise to encourage the blinds to come in and create a multiway pot.
That said, in order for this to work, you must consistently make the stopping call -- the float -- and block your opponent from stealing
the pot on the turn.
Opening fire on the blinds is the most basic element of LAG play. Part III: Opening Fire on the Blinds, deals with situations in which
you will open with a raise and have the positional advantage after the flop. Most of these hands are from the button or cutoff seat,
whether playing three-to six-handed, while some are from the hijack seat or UTG in five-or six-handed play.
A few of the hands are contrasting examples where openlimping and playing Small Ball may be the better option.
Note that situations in which you open with a raise and wind up playing out of position after the flop are covered in Part V: Playing
Out of Position.
Hand #1: Delayed Semi-Bluff Float The game: $ 2-$4 online (6-max), five-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($521.20) open with a raise to $14, and only the small blind ($400) calls.
A standard open with a premium-class hand from the button.
Flop ($138): I have the nut flush draw and a nut gutter.
Action: The small blind bets $100, and the big blind folds.
I am not going anywhere, and in a low-SPR situation, if I intend to play, I should shove and give my opponent a chance to fold.
Action: I raise and set the small blind all-in for $354 total, and he calls, showing A Q J 8 for top two pair.
Sometimes he has air in this spot, sometimes he doesnt. Either way, I could not be in bad shape regardless of his holding. As it is, I
have 44% equity, which is dead on for a low-SPR situation of 4, but well over par equity in this SPR 2.6 situation.
Turn ($846):
Flop ($378): This is a great flop for me, giving me the nut flush draw with an overpair.
Action: My opponent checks. I bet $327.80 all-in, and my opponent calls all-in for $267.30, showing J T 9 8 for a pair of tens.
I am a 76%/24% favorite.
Turn ($912.60):
River ($912.60): Figures.
Hand #9: Getting 3-Bet from the Blinds The game: $2-$4 online (6-max), five-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: It gets folded to me, and I ($440.50) open with a raise to $14. The small blind ($283.80) reraises to $44, and the big blind folds.
This is mostly standard. I could have limped in with this hand as well, but once I raise and get reraised, I am not going anywhere
when I have position.
Action: I call.
Turn ($338):
River ($338): I win.
Hand #15: Check Down on Flush Board The game: $2-$4 online (6-max), three-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($517.30) open with raise to $14, and only the big blind ($162) calls.
Flop ($12): Both blinds check. I bet $12, and the small blind folds. The big blind calls.
I took a stab at the acehigh flop and got called.
Turn ($100): My opponent checks. I bet $100. My opponent raises to $400, setting me all-in. I fold.
Just a friendly reminder that floating does not always work, as sometimes you run into the bet-flop/check-raise turn sequence.
Hand #18: Getting 3-Bet, Facing a Token C-Bet on a Paired Board Flop The game: $2-$4 online (6-max), six-handed
My position: Cutoff
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($1,268.50) open with a raise to $14.
This is a loose raise from the cutoff. The button needs to be tight.
Action: The button ($334) and small blind ($150.80) both call. The big blind ($522.15) reraises to $70. I call, but the other two players
both fold.
Its possible I could have folded to the 3-bet with a player behind me. But it worked out for the best, as now I am heads up with the
positional advantage.
Action: I fold.
Hand #19: Top Pair, Top Two Pair The game: $2-$4 online (6-max), four-handed
My position: UTG
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($1,168.30) open with a raise to $14, and only the big blind ($536.30) calls.
River ($546):
Hand #23 Small Ball, Flop Wheel and Flush Draw The game: $2-$4 online (6-max), five-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: It gets folded to me. I ($1,308.60) limp in. The small blind folds. The big blind ($345.25) checks.
My hands not even really playable. I kind of just wanted to see a flop. That said, rather than bloat the pot with a raise, I chose to limp
in and play Small Ball.
Flop ($10): Bingo. The nut straight with a gutshot improver and a straight flush draw.
Action: My opponent bets $10.
Theres no slowplaying this. The play is to raise and try to freeroll my opponent if he has the wheel, or to get him to pay up with
whatever he has if he doesnt.
Action: I raise to $40, and my opponent folds.
Maybe next time.
Hand #24: Check Down The game: $2-$4 online (6-max), five-handed
My position: UTG
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($560.70) open with a raise to $14, and only the big blind ($160) calls.
With a suited ace and 13-card nut wrap potential, this kind of hand is an acceptable open from two off the button.
I generally should go ahead and bet this without much in the way of improvers.
Flop ($42): Jackpot. The nut straight with a flush re-draw, right out of Chapter 1, Book One.
Action: Both opponents check. I bet $32, and only the small blind calls.
Well, I wasnt checking it.
Flop ($12): Sometimes you get really lucky and flop something decent. I have bottom pair with a wheel wrap and a straight flush draw.
Action: The small blind checks. The big blind bets $12. I call, and the small blind calls.
Im not sure why I didnt raise, which I probably would do in this spot about 9 times out of 10. I guess I might have been concerned
about running into a Broadway wrap with a bigger flush draw, or something like that.
Turn ($48): Bingo. I have the nut straight with two pair and a flush redraw. Ram and jam.
Action: Both opponents check.
Typical.
Action: I bet $48. The small blind calls. The big blind folds.
River ($156): My opponent checks. I check. My opponent shows A A Q 7 for aces up.
If I had known he had that, I would have bet the turn. Unfortunately, I dont get to see my opponents cards.
Hand #28: Bottom Two Pair The game: $2-$4 online (6-max), three-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($789.10) open with a raise to $14, and only the big blind ($1,241.75) calls.
Standard. I prefer a suited ace to open UTG five-handed, but I am OK with this hand if I can consistently get this result.
Flop ($10.50): The small blind checks. The big blind bets $10.50.
I have an overpair and blockers to the straight. I could fold. I could call (float). Or
Action: I raise to $42, and both opponents fold.
All standard, really.
Hand #38: Getting 3-Bet from the Blinds, Top Pair The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), five-handed
My position: UTG
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($234.05) open with a raise to $3.50.
J-9-8-6 with a suit is a good enough open, again, assuming the players behind me are tight enough to let me play with the blinds.
Otherwise, I might be better off limping in (if the players behind me are loose but passive), or folding (if they are aggressive).
Action: It gets folded around to the big blind ($192.80), who reraises to $11. I call.
Standard.
Theres nothing ambiguous about top two pair with a flush draw in position against two checks.
Action: I bet $22.50, and my opponent folds.
Hand #39: AAKTds, Check Down The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), six-handed
My position: UTG
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($100) open with a raise to $3.50, and only the small blind ($134.80) calls.
A no-brainer open with premium aces.
River ($8): My opponent checks. I check. My opponent shows Q 8 7 3 for a pair of queens. I win.
Hand #40: Double Combo Float, Bluff Raise The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), three-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($100) open with a raise to $3.50, and only the big blind ($123.55) calls.
Turn ($8):
Jackpot.
Action: My opponent bets $4.
Obviously, I am not folding. The question is whether or not I call and try to trap, or whether I should raise and try to get as much
money into the pot as possible. And the clear answer is that I need to raise here and hope my opponent has at least a six and try to
play for stacks if possible.
Another alternative outcome is that if my opponent has nothing, he may read my raise as a bluff and play back.
Action: I raise to $15. My opponent calls.
Very promising.
River($38): My opponent checks. I bet $38. My opponent calls with A 7 4 4 for the underfull.
Id say the flop check worked out pretty well.
Hand #43: Getting 3-Bet from the Blinds The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), six-handed
My position: Cutoff
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($107.40) open with a raise to $3.50. It gets folded to the big blind ($134.20), who reraises to $11. I call.
Fairly standard, if on the looser side for the open-raise. Im not folding to the 3-bet in position, however.
Turn ($215.30):
River ($215.30):
Hand #44: Combo Float The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), six-handed
My position: Cutoff
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($167) open with a raise to $3.50. Only the small blind ($390.30) calls.
Id prefer the ace to be suited, but this is good enough to open from the cutoff.
River ($36): My opponent checks. I check. My opponent shows J T 9 4 for a smaller two pair. I win.
Thats not what I expected to see, but Ill take it.
Hand #45: Getting 3-Bet from the Blinds, Floating The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), four-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: The UTG player folds. I ($126.05) open with a raise to $3.50. The small blind ($213.40) reraises to $12. The big blind folds. I
call.
Standard.
River ($24.50): My opponent checks. I bet $12. My opponent calls with T T 6 2 for tens up. I win.
As intended.
Hand #48: Getting 3-Bet from the Blinds The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), six-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: It gets folded to me. I ($178.45) open with a raise to $4.50. The small blind ($113.90) reraises to $11.50. The big blind folds. I
call.
By now, it should be apparent that my play here is standard.
decision either way, but I prefer to have top pair or better to shove when the SPR is 4.
Action: I fold.
Having said that, I kind of wish I went ahead and shoved.
Hand #50: Middle Set, Low SPR Against a 3-Bet Pre-flop The game: $0.50-$1 online (6-max), four-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($117.50) open with a raise to $3.50. The small blind ($89) reraises to $11.50. The big blind folds. I call.
Standard. I have a near-premium-class hand, and with the positional advantage. I dont necessarily mind getting 3-bet, but I dont
want to 4-bet because getting 5-bet would be a disaster where I would likely be getting smoked by A-A-x-x, and where if I 4-bet and
get called I would be negating my positional advantage by creating a low, low-SPR situation.
Turn ($179):
River ($179): My opponent shows A A 6 3, having flopped a set of aces.
The cost of doing business sometimes.
Hand #51: Undertrips The game: $1-$2 online (6-max, deep), six-handed
My position: Hijack
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($486.80) open with a raise to $7, and only the small blind ($1,025.10) calls.
K-J-T-8 with a suit is a solid open from the hijack if I can consistently get heads up with blinds, but a loose open with loose players
behind me.
River ($245): My opponent checks. I check. My opponent shows A A 5 4, for aces up.
I didnt expect that, though the fact that he picked up nut diamonds may have encouraged him to bet the turn.
Nobody said that floating was risk free!
Hand #54: Top Pair, Plus The game: $1-$2 online (6-max), three-handed, one blind
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: The UTG player folds. I ($532.20) open with a raise to $6. The blind ($337.35) calls.
This is a tricky spot. I have top pair and a nut gutshot with backdoor hearts, and it is not at all clear to me that my opponent isnt
raising in response to my c-bet -- in other words, he might be raising light because he expects me to be c-betting light.
Action: I call.
Flop ($21): The small blind bets $6. The big blind raises to $12.
I flopped a 13-card nut wrap with backdoor diamonds, in a low-SPR situation facing a weak stab and a weak stab raise. Perhaps I can
get them both to fold to a reraise?
Action: I reraise to $63. The small blind folds. The big blind reraises all-in to $73. I call. My opponent shows A 8 5 4 for a sucker
gutter and acehigh.
I wonder what game he thinks hes playing. He does have the best hand, technically, with his acehigh. However, the game does not
end on the flop, and I am a 59%/41% favorite to win the hand.
Turn ($173):
Again, I could have gone either way with top pair and a full set of draws to top two pair. But then again, if I had bet and my opponent
had folded, then I wouldnt have anything to write about.
Flop ($21): The small blind checks. The big blind bets $10.50. I fold, and the small blind folds.
I had to show at least one of these. I didnt want you think I make a play every time.
Hand #68: Getting 3-Bet from the Blinds, Semi-Bluff Raise The game: $0.50-$1 online with $0.20 ante online (6-max, deep), six-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: It gets folded to me, and I ($383.80) open with a raise to $4.70. The small blind ($114.10) reraises to $15, and the big blind
folds. I call.
Standard.
River ($99): My opponent checks. I bet $99, and my opponent calls, showing T 7 4 2, having flopped top two pair.
Well, he got what he deserved for calling pre-flop from the small blind holding garbage. Im just lucky I didnt get check-raised on the
flop.
Hand #70: Getting 3-Bet from the Blinds, Double Barrel The game: $0.50-$1 online with $0.20 ante online (6-max, deep), six-handed
My position: Cutoff
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($529.80) open with a raise to $4.70. The button folds. The small blind ($215.10) reraises to $16.30. The big blind folds. I call.
This isnt a real premium hand with the top gap and small pair, but I am open to trying new things.
Flop ($7.20): The small blind checks. The big blind bets $7.20.
Ive gotta call at least one bet with my aces up.
Action: I call, and the small blind folds.
River ($64.80): My opponent checks. I check. My opponent shows K T 8 3 for trip tens.
Could I have folded the turn? Maybe. Am I usually beat there when he bets the pot on the turn? Probably, but I dont really know.
All I know is that I probably would have played his hand differently.
Hand #73: The Betting Machine The game: $1-$2 online with $0.30 ante online (6-max, deep), five-handed
My position: Button
My hand:
Pre-flop: I ($400) open with a raise to $8.50, and only the big blind ($272.60) calls.
This is basically the bottom of my prescribed range. I might sometimes open limp with this hand on the button as well. That said, the
presence of the antes may push this hand towards a raise.