thepokerkid123
Visionary
Silver Level
Long story short at $10nl where I believe I should be crushing the game, my winrate sucks, I'm spewing chips somewhere. I'm playing increasingly looser and my winrate is going down so I've got to tighten up but there's few actual hands that I'm playing that are costing me money...
Instead I think it's these spots where I play any two cards, which to be honest is at least once or twice per orbit in 6 max.
I'd appreciate it if someone could go over this and tell me if there's anything they disagree with.
BB vs SB Completion
If it's folded to the SB who limps, I'll raise 72o-AA to about 4xbb. I'm then cbetting almost 100% of flops if checked to.
The only time when I don't do this is if I've done it a few times in a row and I've got rags, then I'll just check and see if I can catch a miracle flop or if villain will do something stupid to hand me the pot post-flop.
SB vs Nit BB
If it's folded to me in the SB, I'll raise ATC to 3xbb, the reason this raise size is smaller is because I need them to fold less often. To be honest making this play I know I'm way out of line and if they fight back at all I'll stop. Post-flop I'm really taking a one and done approach to cbetting unless they've got hugely exploitable floating tendencies which is rare for nits, I'm OOP with a weaker range and I know that.
Blind vs Idiotic limping fish
This happens way too often, which is good I guess.
When there's 3-4 other players who've limped and I'm on the BB, we've now got 5bb in the pot, my range is probably top 80% of all hands, I'm raising to say 6bb, essentially betting 5bb more to win 5bb, when someone calls then I've paid 5bb to play in a usually heads up pot of 10bb+my 5bb raise as pre-flop aggressor.
The complication is when calling stations are involved, then I'll have a really, really wide value range (still probably top 30% of hands).
CO/Button vs Blinds
When it's folded to me I only raise 2bb. This is because it gives me all kinds of advantages, if you want I can go into this but honestly I can write a dozen pages on blind stealing, for simplicty sake it will suffice to say that 2bb is a good size.
As long as I'm raising 2bb I will raise literally any two cards and there's no effective method of blind defence that will make me tighten my range.
If between the small blind and big blind their combined VP$IP from the blinds totals about 40 or more (which takes guesswork to figure out) then I'll change my raise size to 3bb or 4bb (depending on how frequently they're calling) and tighten my range.
If I'm 3bet while raising to 2bb, as long as the 3bet is 3x or 4x and we're reasonably deep, I'm calling really wide, Axs, all pocket pairs, SCers (including suited cards with one gap), unsuited connectors, sometimes most broadway cards other times only KQ, AQ+ depending on what I think their range is. If they raise bigger then my range is quite strong but very player dependent.
If I'm raising to 3bb or 4bb and get 3bet... nah, that's too long winded, suffice to say that I'm against fish so it's a wide value range.
Also I rarely if ever 4bet light since I'm not convinced I've come up against anyone who isn't 3betting for value here, usually they just call with their weak hands and 3bet their strong hands. Light 4betting is something I'll work in as I move up.
Blind defence
Any time I see a significant difference between the steal attempt and PFR stats on anyone but a calling station, I'm 3betting really wide like maybe top 30% of hands. I actually have a little trouble with turning my hand face up here with my raise sizes because I have no idea what I'm doing, I like 3x for stealing and I like 4x for value but I don't like stealing with 4x or going for value with 3x... so I kinda fumble around and hope no one notices until I figure out what I'm doing.
Min-raises
I hate 'em, I hate 'em, I really hate 'em.
I don't know what they mean but I can't fold, I know I'm paying them off, I know it, but I can't fold.
Let's say I raise to 40c in the CO, BB makes it 70c, I'm calling 100% of the time, even if I've got K8o I'm calling. He's giving me roughly 3:1 on my money and I've got position, I'm not going anywhere. Post-flop I've got no idea what to do because he min-raised but I'm not folding pre-flop. If I'm OOP it's 4bet or fold, I almost never flat call OOP.
PFR vs Donk bets
If they bet say 10c into a $1 pot I'm raising to 70c even with 23o on an AKQ board (read as any two cards on any board) but to be honest I run into big hands quite a lot, even on say a J82r board.
However I take them seriously when they donk 2/3 pot, I'll float it really wide if I've got overs or draws or backdoor draws or if I can somehow convince myself that I've got say 20% or better equity against top pair, but if I've got air or an underpair or something without some kind of draw or showdown value then I'm gone. Every time I play back at them they've got something, I have no idea how everyone keeps saying donk bets are weak.
Now, if I'm lucky someone will come along and tell me I'm an idiot and I'm doing it all wrong and correct me.
Edit to add: With the button/CO stealing raise size, I raise 3x as standard from CO and 2x as standard from button but if button is a nit I'll often get cheeky and raise 2x from CO too if I can get away with it.
Instead I think it's these spots where I play any two cards, which to be honest is at least once or twice per orbit in 6 max.
I'd appreciate it if someone could go over this and tell me if there's anything they disagree with.
BB vs SB Completion
If it's folded to the SB who limps, I'll raise 72o-AA to about 4xbb. I'm then cbetting almost 100% of flops if checked to.
The only time when I don't do this is if I've done it a few times in a row and I've got rags, then I'll just check and see if I can catch a miracle flop or if villain will do something stupid to hand me the pot post-flop.
SB vs Nit BB
If it's folded to me in the SB, I'll raise ATC to 3xbb, the reason this raise size is smaller is because I need them to fold less often. To be honest making this play I know I'm way out of line and if they fight back at all I'll stop. Post-flop I'm really taking a one and done approach to cbetting unless they've got hugely exploitable floating tendencies which is rare for nits, I'm OOP with a weaker range and I know that.
Blind vs Idiotic limping fish
This happens way too often, which is good I guess.
When there's 3-4 other players who've limped and I'm on the BB, we've now got 5bb in the pot, my range is probably top 80% of all hands, I'm raising to say 6bb, essentially betting 5bb more to win 5bb, when someone calls then I've paid 5bb to play in a usually heads up pot of 10bb+my 5bb raise as pre-flop aggressor.
The complication is when calling stations are involved, then I'll have a really, really wide value range (still probably top 30% of hands).
CO/Button vs Blinds
When it's folded to me I only raise 2bb. This is because it gives me all kinds of advantages, if you want I can go into this but honestly I can write a dozen pages on blind stealing, for simplicty sake it will suffice to say that 2bb is a good size.
As long as I'm raising 2bb I will raise literally any two cards and there's no effective method of blind defence that will make me tighten my range.
If between the small blind and big blind their combined VP$IP from the blinds totals about 40 or more (which takes guesswork to figure out) then I'll change my raise size to 3bb or 4bb (depending on how frequently they're calling) and tighten my range.
If I'm 3bet while raising to 2bb, as long as the 3bet is 3x or 4x and we're reasonably deep, I'm calling really wide, Axs, all pocket pairs, SCers (including suited cards with one gap), unsuited connectors, sometimes most broadway cards other times only KQ, AQ+ depending on what I think their range is. If they raise bigger then my range is quite strong but very player dependent.
If I'm raising to 3bb or 4bb and get 3bet... nah, that's too long winded, suffice to say that I'm against fish so it's a wide value range.
Also I rarely if ever 4bet light since I'm not convinced I've come up against anyone who isn't 3betting for value here, usually they just call with their weak hands and 3bet their strong hands. Light 4betting is something I'll work in as I move up.
Blind defence
Any time I see a significant difference between the steal attempt and PFR stats on anyone but a calling station, I'm 3betting really wide like maybe top 30% of hands. I actually have a little trouble with turning my hand face up here with my raise sizes because I have no idea what I'm doing, I like 3x for stealing and I like 4x for value but I don't like stealing with 4x or going for value with 3x... so I kinda fumble around and hope no one notices until I figure out what I'm doing.
Min-raises
I hate 'em, I hate 'em, I really hate 'em.
I don't know what they mean but I can't fold, I know I'm paying them off, I know it, but I can't fold.
Let's say I raise to 40c in the CO, BB makes it 70c, I'm calling 100% of the time, even if I've got K8o I'm calling. He's giving me roughly 3:1 on my money and I've got position, I'm not going anywhere. Post-flop I've got no idea what to do because he min-raised but I'm not folding pre-flop. If I'm OOP it's 4bet or fold, I almost never flat call OOP.
PFR vs Donk bets
If they bet say 10c into a $1 pot I'm raising to 70c even with 23o on an AKQ board (read as any two cards on any board) but to be honest I run into big hands quite a lot, even on say a J82r board.
However I take them seriously when they donk 2/3 pot, I'll float it really wide if I've got overs or draws or backdoor draws or if I can somehow convince myself that I've got say 20% or better equity against top pair, but if I've got air or an underpair or something without some kind of draw or showdown value then I'm gone. Every time I play back at them they've got something, I have no idea how everyone keeps saying donk bets are weak.
Now, if I'm lucky someone will come along and tell me I'm an idiot and I'm doing it all wrong and correct me.
Edit to add: With the button/CO stealing raise size, I raise 3x as standard from CO and 2x as standard from button but if button is a nit I'll often get cheeky and raise 2x from CO too if I can get away with it.
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