Using Game Flow and Dynamic: Adjusting Lines Cuz it's what the Cool Kids Do

I know that this forum is predominately guys playing 2-10NL and that honestly this thread probably has very little value to guys at those level but at least it will get you thinking which has a lot of value in itself.

Ok so what is game flow? What is dynamic? Well in the way I'm using the words it really just means table dynamics, history with opponents, your image and actions and how they affect how your opponents are perceiving you.

A popular saying thrown around alot is that "balance is overrated as people never adjust". And while I do agree that in most scenarios balance is definitely overrated I KNOW that people, especially regs, will adjust to your actions whether you like it or not. It's just often they do it in the wrong way or a predictable way which is good for us!

To get my point of this thread across I'm going to use the same hand example but with two different dynamics and we will see how it affects which line we choose. In both scenarios we have 100bb effective stacks, FR, and are facing a 3x raise from the BTN (A decent TAG Reg) sitting with AA in the BB.

Scenario 1:

In our first scenario, we have an interesting dynamic with BTN. This session we have been flatting alot from the blinds and have check/raised a couple times after original raiser has CBet. (Whether we had a hand or were bluffing is irrelevant as hands never went to showdown) How does this dynamic affect our decision preflop?

Well BTN is stealing a wide range so most of his range is likely folding if we 3Bet. We haven't 3Bet that many times this session and BTN is not one to normally flat 3Bets wide. (This is true for most regs) 3Betting isn't terrible but given our dynamic I advocate calling. Why?

It's quite simple. We've been check/raising a bunch of flops after flatting from the blinds and BTN will most likely have noticed this. (It was probably him getting check/raised a few of those times) By flatting and then c/r'ing the flop we put our opponent in a situation where he thinks we are likely FOS. Putting Regs in situations when they think you are FOS is +++++EV because this is when they spew. BTN is likely to continue with a bunch of hands like Top pair, second pair, any pair etc. and is likely to even come over the top or try and float us which is great for us!

Scenario 2:

In this second scenario, we have been 3Betting like crazy as we have had lots of good hands at this table and have thrown in a few bluffs as well. What do we do now?

Well I think any idiot can figure out that this is an IDEAL time to 3Bet. BTN is likely getting fed up with the constant 3Bets and is going to try and outplay you thinking you are once again FOS. He is likely to flat you much wider and likely to come over the top and 4Bet you wider for value and as a bluff all of which is great for you!

As you can see two different dynamics can lead to two different lines!

Now this example is fairly simple and hopefully fairly obvious but the lesson from it is important:

USE YOUR IMAGE! Sometimes you'll make an overbet shove on the river as a bluff (come on who doesn't love doing that) and it gets called. It happens. Good players will use this fact and overbet again, but this time for value, instead of the half pot river bet.

The human mind doesn't grasp randomness well. It wants to draw conclusions from small samples. It wants to say "He just check/raised me 3 times he can't have a hand every time". Use this weakness of our race to win you more money at poker.

Needs more love, very nicely put

More people need to see this - very clearly explained, nice post.

I just see so many micro guys here that have some potential but need to get into the habit of thinking critically for themselves and thinking in the correct way about poker.

Nobody can go and read about every situation that is going to come up but a person can learn the proper way to think about factors that affect the decision making process. Hopefully these types of threads can help people think better...cuz thats my goal!

Bumping because this is an excellent post

I just wanna say thanks for this it was a good read and something us micro players should probably pay a lot more attention too, instead of just playing like robots with QQ+ and raising no matter what, and complaining that we get no action.

But my real thankyou is about the microstakes guide you made, upon reading it again i am now trying to get my 3bet game at 10NL better as i think this will distinguish me from the breakeven regs. I know the guide was 6max and i play full ring but yeah the whole air:nut ratio stuff and situations where we should be 3 betting is something im gonna spend a good bit of time trying to get good at, so cheers!

Glad this was bumped coz I missed i the 1st time. Very nice post Rileyl. Looking forward to your next strat post

This is especially true with the 3 betting scenario. Just think back to that time that you had a normal reg on your left with a 3 bet of say 3% and he 3 bet your steal three times in a row. Now you may have folded all three times but when you go to click your raise button the fourth time I bet we were all thinking 'if this guy 3 bets me again i am 4 betting him, no matter what my hand is'. This would be an ideal time for him to be 3 betting for value as he knows he will be getting on our nerves...

great post and also glad this was bumped cuz i would of missed it

Great post I would have missed if jagsti hadn't mentioned in another thread.

Can we get more please ?

Great post!!! I want to thank you for taking the time to put such a well written discussion together.

It's an interesting post, I don't know about the examples though. I just play 20NL but whenever I tried to get fancy with premiums it was LOL FAIL! for me

It's true that regs can over-adapt and spew when they think they're adjusting, but why are you thinking they will adjust this moment and not the next hand of this type?

Of course I don't know they are going to spew at this moment...We never know anything for certain in poker. But for sake of argument:

Say we have never been c/raising flops...villains likelyness to do something spewy like reraise is probably very low...say 5%.

Now we have been c/raising lots of flops after flatting from blinds...villains likelyness to spew increases...it still may only be 30% or even lower but in nonetheless increases and this increase in potential spew makes flatting and c/raising sexier

Yeah, but I don't think that 30% chance outweighs the massive EV lost by flatting AA here. Do that with JJ-QQ or even TT as you'll get lots of flops likely to have missed villain and 3-betting is marginal anyway (except QQ)

Besides, if button is so sick of your aggression he's not going to like your 3-bet either and may be just as likely to spew pre.

excellent post!

Your missing the point...when we c/raise after bluffing a bunch of times it's for VALUE so villain missing a bunch of flops is irrelevant. We usually aren't losing much EV by flatting if we have an aggressive image postflop. It's not like villain is going to fold and overpair on the flop after we have been abusing him with c/raises. So the only hand we might lose value from is AK but again he is going to spew a bunch and probably will spew with AK.

I'm not advocating always flatting AA from the blinds. I'm just saying that you should take into account your image, the dynamic at the table before you make your decision. People go on autopilot too much in poker and it's a problem.

You're pretty much contradiction yourself now, and twice to boot. In the OP you talk about BTN having a wide range, now you're saying it doesn't matter if he misses the flop because overpairs will call / get it in. Overpairs are a minuscule part of a wide range, and you're flatting remember?

Then you talk about people going on autopilot too much. I agree but autopilot means not adapting well to the situations that arise, and your whole strategy is about villain quitting his autopilot mode here and bluff-shoving you with T7s on an Q52r board after you check/raise. Doesn't make much sense tbh.

I like new ideas and all but you gotta be prepared to defend it with better arguments. Since this is all theories and hypothesis now, the best way to do that is to show your win rate with KK-AA when you flat call. Then I'll bow to you and you can say /thread

The thread isn't about flatting with AA in the blinds, it's about thinking about your image and using to adjust lines when it could be profitable.

This.

Sure. But the bad examples ruin that message. And the example scenario are what most people will remember if they try to apply it. They are very important, they are there to prove a point and to help users understand that said point, but in this way they are doing it harm

the ideal thing is to do both. if you have been 3-betting someone a lot, 3-bet them with AA and then check-raise the flop.