rileyl
Rock Star
Silver Level
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.
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.