You should be Playing Unpredictably against solid players - you really don't need to do this agains weak players who are likely not paying enough attention to how you play.

If you have not yet read Day 22 and watched the video for Day 22 - take a few minutes now to do that and then come back here to discuss it:

Playing Unpredictably

I love the definition that Collin gives for blockers - "Cards you hold that are significant ONLY because your opponents can't be holding onto them." Let's dicuss unpredictable play with Collin and Katie here in this thread.

This will be a money maker/leak stopper if I can master the points in this video, especially the bluff catching. When playing snooker, I would look at the possibilities of making my best shot as well as balancing the value of creating the worst shot for my opponent and this goes to the offense/defense "blocker" considerations. Some good (and older) poker players I knew were also champion snooker players.
In the example game w/ 2AK with you holding the A8, you hit the last card which gave you the win. If I were the donk bettor I would probably have entered here only with suited cards or unsuited mid-high connectors as my worst cards. In today's PStars spin free roll, I was literally seeing "stars" because of one player who kept hitting his out on the river, counterfeiting me or the board made the best hand despite my leading all the way. This made me wonder why the player was in these hands to begin with.. I made it into the "cash" only because I tempered my aggressive (assertive?) play by checking more and was able to rebuild my decimated stack several times with some chancy all-ins and bluffs.
The only practice poker software I ever used was Wilson Software "Side-Winder Sid" and they have been out of business for years. Is there a simulator and/or game playing software that can highlight bluff making/catching situations? Years ago (again) I would read the papers published by the University of Alberta Poker Research Group (Darse Billings..etc..). They have since changed their name and evolved but along these lines is there affordable poker AI software that can be played against and can learn? [Pluribus/Libratus...?]

Interesting concepts talking about that it depends on your opponents and i was thinking about a counterpoint of who is on the other side doing the live broadcast on television and/or the internet (as a presenter/commentator) and how everything seems to be easier in a certain way, showing what would be the best way to make your decision.

Nice analogy on the snooker - I play pool too. As a matter of fact I had a fun night playing with Collin, Katie and a few friends one time years ago!

Acidburn, that's a good way to look at it.

Poly, I'd recommend checking out Poker Snowie for those types of situations.
I remember that night well Debi, it was a lot of fun!

What I like about playing unpredictably is that it makes poker tracking software useless. I imagine players shocked when they watch statistics.

Cheeeer this absolutely is helpful for making opponents get confused, that's a great point. Tracking software can still be useful against unpredictable opponents, for example in knowing that they play a lot of hands, but it only goes so far just like you're saying.

This is one of the reasons why I usually employ the turn shove for value & occasionally, as a bluff.
The fact is that your strategy will always be evident in your playing style & you shouldn't deviate too much from it to show the opps that you're the superior player or you'll fall into fancy playing syndrome

Can we know more details? Um, yeah I thought maybe to analyze size of bets.

Perhaps they could put sometime between the moment they give the quiz and the moment they give the answer. That way people could see if they got it quickly enough.

Yes, I mean that if someone does something like overbet shove many times the pot with a stone bluff on the first hand of a cash game session, your HUD might read 100/0/0 (VPIP/PFR/3bet) whereas observation would tell you much more than this.

Thanks for this feedback. You can pause the video, but I think you're right we should have made it easier for people by inserting a longer pause -- sorry about that!

As usual, another great lesson. And I can see the value of it when I think back to some of the hands I've played where I've 3Bet what I suspect are reg's or have notes that they are at least decent. Those that have noticed my play as tight in a tourney, for example (as it usually is early on beause of the types I am playing these days), will fold to my reraise, even seemingly reluctantly fold to my raise (if their hesitation means anything). But it doesn't work against the myriad of loose maniacs or calling stations, of course.

But something to seriously consider actually planning to use in future.

I think many players will predict your play style due to your table image, as an online player never found a solid way for exploiting my table image for being unpredictable, what is your advice for this pit?

Mt2, exploiting your image is a very good idea. The best way is just to act counter to what your opponents likely believe. For example, if you've been very tight your first 3 orbits at the table because you're card-dead, then more actively looking for light 3-bet spots because you'll get more credit.

Solid explanation into which hands are good light 3-bet candidates. I knew to mix up my range before, but I think sometimes I was 3-betting a bit too much with hands without much post-flop potential. There is a point in that we are inducing a fold, but it is no guarantee that we'll get it and we don't want a junk hand into a pot we just built up.

I'm going from tight to aggressive player during this course and in fact I'm already unpredictable too much ahahaha

The problem I turned a little looser because I also started to think that almost everything is bluff or semi-bluff, or second pairs while I have the first.

Well, I really have to use these mini raises very rarely because I don't know how to use them (either I make bigger raises or everyone pays and then I fold or I want to make a bigger raise to keep the villains out and I do badly).

Finished Days #21+22.

The Day #22 is one of the most interesting chapters of this course.

I liked the way the concept of unpredictability was explained, and I studied again the concept of "light 3betting". At the micros a solid ABC strategy, coupled with good bankroll management and emotional control is enough to, at least, not being a breakeven poker player.

From there begins the experiment and the tricky play.

I takes some practice too.

Tomorrow with Day #23.

Glad you liked it Luvart, and nice work with the progress!

Hi CCers,

I agree with the concept of being unpredictable at the table. It is important to note that a seemingly normal play can be unpredictable as well, in a sense that the cards you are holding is disguised in the range and position.

Response to video question:


Not knowing anything about the opponent is never a good spot to get crafty.

Looking at the position, I would say no to it being a good spot to 3-bet since you are first to act on each subsequent round of betting. Q4o not my cup of tea here.

If I had to choose between Q8o and J9 suited for a light C-bet, I would choose Q8 to to do it and limp with J9 suited since it has good draws and I may want to control the pot a little.

A little out of my comfort zone here and look forward to the discussion.

True. A successful pre-flop jam sometimes feels like a potted 9 in an 9-ball game!

As for being unpredictable, appart from being a psycho, I think that most people I play regularly with know I'm a nit. Sometimes I do make the unexpected move, but it rarely clicks...

Great job completing Day 22 and I can relate--Q4o is almost never my cup of tea

I feel there should have been more talk on the frequency of unpredictable plays. Make them too often and they become predictable = exploitable.

A beginner would have a hard time finding that silver lining and just the right amount of hands to get frisky with.

Also, there should be more mention as to when NOT to do it. I can think of numerous MTT spots where all you stated applies, but is still not a moment where we should re-raise small from SB with 83s

This is key in poker, thats way non off the top player only 3bet or 4bet his premiun hands. They had frequensies off flat calling or just calling a 4bet with AA when every one spect them to 5bet/shove them. No days frequensies is everything, you wanth to make it the hardest tham you can to your oponent, that way you will forse him to make mistakes and there is were the money lais. Maiking humans make humans mistakes. Iff you have a linear strategy with no valance and no frequensies you can make (the leasson 20 readings) it easier to the vilain to narrowing your rangue and take out hands off the ultimate desition call/fold.

Interesting topic. Probably at low limits, as well as in tournaments where there are a lot of random players and no one has statistics on opponents - unexpected decisions can be confusing. A good bluff to steal widely.

But in a regular game, one should rather adhere to a clearer strategy, allowing oneself to deviate only occasionally, for in a suitable position and with an interesting hand in the later streets.

Very good point!

So true that one needs to be willing and able to change gears and simultaneously avoid the common pitfall of overdoing it!

This is a fascinating subject to learn! I feel this is the chapter of the book where I start learning about more advanced topics in poker so thank you for making it so accessible.

In situations like hand 22-1, the big risk of not shoving or betting bigger is the possibility of villain making a stronger hand on later streets but I guess that's just part of the game! Am I correct in understanding that what you meant in the analysis of this hand that sometimes we should indeed shove with AA or 22 to keep villain guessing?

I have a question about the hypothetical situation you mentioned around 7:20 in the video Collin. You said a hand like A9o would not be an ideal candidate for a light 3-bet, but in the book ATo is regarded as such in hand 22-2. Is that because hero is defending the BB in the video?

Also, can limping be added to our 'arsenal' of unpredictable play or should we just adhere to what we learned earlier in the course and almost always bet/raise/fold unless we are defending the blinds or set mining?

Thanks again!

Glad you enjoyed this Day of the course!

I would shove 22 here against almost any opponent. With AA, I would shove against a good player to keep him guessing, exactly like you're saying -- the problem is that a small 3-bet would likely look too strong because I'd only be making that play with monster hands. So it's better to be unpredictable against someone who understands that a small 3-bet here represents a lot of strength.

A9o 3-bet: As a general rule, if you have a hand that is more than strong enough to call a raise, but you wouldn't want your opponent to 4-bet you, then you shouldn't make a light 3-bet. With that A9o, it's not quite strong enough to continue facing a 4-bet against most opponents, but also too strong to want to fold. So it all comes down to the specific for which hands you pick. A9o might make a great light 3-bet if you can easily fold it facing a 4-bet, but blind-vs-blind it's too strong to normally use in that way.

Limping. There are definitely good players who incorporate open-limping (when first in) into their strategy from different positions, but I recommend only doing it from the small blind. Stay aggressive and give yourself a chance to win the pot pre-flop

Great questions and I hope this helps!

Thank you very much Collin for clarifying all that. Much appreciated

I find this is most important blind vs blind. You can make a lot of profit by having a mixed limping range where your opponent will raise/jam over your small blind limps late in a tournament with weak hands if they think a limp always means weakness.

Definitely, in blind battles vs regs you need to be unpredictable with your SB open-limping range. Strong but playable hands like ATs can make great ones to limp into regs.

Thanks for the comments!

Going to add you to this list:

Looking for CardsChat Twitch and YouTube Streamers!

If I limp from small blind, I typically do it with my entire range, because this is easy and not exploitable. The alternative is to put the strongest hands like JJ+ and AK into your limping range and jam less playable hands like rag aces and small pairs as explained in the course.

I have noticed a tendency among regs on 888 Poker to use very large raise sizes against small blind limps. 4BB, 5BB or even 6BB is common. Personally I dont really get the rationale behind this, because big blind has position, so he dont need to give small blind such bad odds to generate folds.

If the player to my left does this, or if he raise all my limps, then my next limp will be a trap, and there BOOM I am with a limp-reraise. This also tend to shut down that kind of action

Open-limping 100% of your VPIP range from the small blind definitely qualifies as unpredictable, and I agree that raising 5+bb to attack a SB limp from the BB doesn't make a lot of sense

Nothing more satisfying than limp-raising an over-aggro opponent!