GiantBuddha's Hand of the Week - Free Poker Videos

GiantBuddha

GiantBuddha

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Here are some videos of me reviewing hands from recent sessions. I'll be recording and posting one every week. For now they'll all be Limit Holdem, since that's my primary specialty, but I'll throw in some No Limit hands as I work on branching out into mixed games.

YouTube- Hand of the Week 1

YouTube- Hand of the Week 2
 
GiantBuddha

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I forgot to mention that I'll be happy to answer any questions about the hands (or anything else) in this thread. Here's video #3:

YouTube- Hand of the Week 3
 
cjatud2012

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sorry this hasn't gotten much of a response Paul, when I get back from class I will try and watch these and ask some questions (definitely a limit n00b here :p), maybe some others will hop in too.
 
cjatud2012

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Okay, just watched Hand 1. Couple of questions:

1) on the turn, is the check/raise the standard play, or do we sometimes donk this, anticipating we'll get raised so that we can 3-bet? Or is that bad because we might lose action from the SB?
2) on the river, when we say he almost always has a boat here, what odds are we looking at to make a fold actually reasonable?

I'll start with those lol, will get to watching the other videos very soon.
 
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brank

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Nice vids.

So in the hand with the set of 2s you dont give him credit for TT or maybe even slowplayin JJ. Is that because you're sure he 3 bets those every time preflop or that he would never c/r that when the flush hits? That line about flop sets was lolz.

In the hand after that I'm wondering why you don't include the wheel draw A4 and A2 and A3 into his range....
 
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GiantBuddha

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Okay, just watched Hand 1. Couple of questions:

1) on the turn, is the check/raise the standard play, or do we sometimes donk this, anticipating we'll get raised so that we can 3-bet? Or is that bad because we might lose action from the SB?
2) on the river, when we say he almost always has a boat here, what odds are we looking at to make a fold actually reasonable?

I'll start with those lol, will get to watching the other videos very soon.

1) Check/raising is better specifically for the reason you stated: we get more action from SB, who is often drawing dead. We're not getting him to fold nut flush draws (which will usually be gutshot royal flush draws), anyway, so having him face two bets isn't so great for us. Our donk looks really strong, too, so it's less likely to get raised, whereas BTN will almost always bet in these games.

2) I would never fold in this spot. We're getting 20:1, which means if we're good 5% of the time, we have a profitable call. If our pot odds were less compelling, it would be because less action had gone in on earlier streets, so my read of "almost always a boat" would be less iron-clad. It's also possible for my opponent to hold A8 or 98 of hearts here, though very unlikely. If you never folded a nut straight closing the action on a non-flush, once-paired board, you might not be making a mistake.
 
GiantBuddha

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Nice vids.

So in the hand with the set of 2s you dont give him credit for TT or maybe even slowplayin JJ. Is that because you're sure he 3 bets those every time preflop or that he would never c/r that when the flush hits? That line about flop sets was lolz.

JJ/TT are very unlikely because:
1) They usually 3-bet preflop
2) They usually check/raise the flop
3) They might not check/raise the turn

Let's say they cold call preflop 20% of the time, check/call the flop 30% of the time, and check/raise the turn 80% of the time. The chances of villain taking this line with either hand is only .2 x .3 x .8 = .048, or a little under 5%. Since there are only 6 combos, we have .3 weighted combos of those hands. That means it's about 3 times as likely that villain holds precisely 89 of clubs. Multiply that by the number of club draws he could hold, and we're looking at a very flush-heavy range.

In the hand after that I'm wondering why you don't include the wheel draw A4 and A2 and A3 into his range....

Yes, those hands can be in his range. They are reasonable parts of his range, although to be thorough, his range can probably contain any two cards. His line of "defend the blind, donk the flop" can mean virtually anything, particularly since I have a short stack. I would weight A2 and A3 behind 9x, hearts, 54, and A4 in his range, but ahead of stuff like KQ, J7, etc.
 
kmixer

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Very cool this is appreciated. i am gonna check them all out and I am sure I will have some questions.
 
J

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Hi GB,

You might remember me from Stoxpoker. Hu player mostly. Watched your 1st vid. Very clear analysis. I think the main factor on the flop is that it cost you $0 from an equity standpoint to try to win unimproved. Folds are unlikely as QJs board is just all over hands that are going to be very strong or want to pop you back as a semibluff to take over the initiative. But who cares? Equity is fine if they call or raise. If it works 1 time in 15 then we are happy.

I'd play the lines as you have on turn and river. Though we don't even need to think about a fold. In my experience players drastically underestimate the probability of you holding a straight. And if they are not detailed hand readers they will put you on AQ, QJ, T9 and think "well I'm ahead of two hands" with A8 or AA so I should raise. Not realizing that AQ is insane, QJ is unlikely, and T9 has 16 possible combos.

I think to make this fold you'd need a long history with a very good player, and even then, if they are very good, you'd need to worry about leveling.

J
 
GiantBuddha

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Very cool this is appreciated. i am gonna check them all out and I am sure I will have some questions.

Great! Fire away!

Hi GB,

You might remember me from Stoxpoker. Hu player mostly. Watched your 1st vid. Very clear analysis. I think the main factor on the flop is that it cost you $0 from an equity standpoint to try to win unimproved. Folds are unlikely as QJs board is just all over hands that are going to be very strong or want to pop you back as a semibluff to take over the initiative. But who cares? Equity is fine if they call or raise. If it works 1 time in 15 then we are happy.

I'd play the lines as you have on turn and river. Though we don't even need to think about a fold. In my experience players drastically underestimate the probability of you holding a straight. And if they are not detailed hand readers they will put you on AQ, QJ, T9 and think "well I'm ahead of two hands" with A8 or AA so I should raise. Not realizing that AQ is insane, QJ is unlikely, and T9 has 16 possible combos.

I think to make this fold you'd need a long history with a very good player, and even then, if they are very good, you'd need to worry about leveling.

J

Hey J,

Yeah, I remember you from Stoxpoker. I'm not surprised to find that I agree with everything you said above. I don't think they underestimate my range enough to where I should 3-bet, but folding is out of the question.
 
KingCurtis

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Interesting to see limit strategy, let alone cash game since I am mostly a tournament player. I think it still is helpful though. Very nice videos!
 
cjatud2012

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That was a pretty cool hand, actually. After you explained it, it makes sense that the check-raise really does make your range a lot stronger, and he can fold even though he's getting tremendous odds.
 
KingCurtis

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Very interesting. Being a No limit player I find it amazing that only an extra bet makes someone fold. Although the same thing could be applied in no limit with a much larger re-raise, or proportionate bet sizes but larger.
 
okeedokalee

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Thanks for these big guy learning plenty from your commentary
 
Hofmaster

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I think, I have to see more of your videos, they are very good and your explanation is enlightening. Thanks for that.
 
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