Grinderella
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Hi,
I've written this post to examine some common situations that arise between regs in Ring Games. Some of it may also apply to SNGs/MTTs. Hope you enjoy.
AA has a preflop starting equity of 85.2% vs.1 opponent with any random hand. This is an enormous advantage and is the reason why during a stack-off nearly 9 times out of 10 the unfortunate caller/raiser gets totally crushed. It is such a strong hand that even if you give the other player a 3Bet/4Bet/5Bet stacking off range of 3%, the Aces’ equity in the hand only drops to 83.7% (almost nothing). If we add 1 additional villain, so that the Aces are stacking off multiway with 2 opponent’s their equity only drops to about 73.5%. This means they will still crush both of those opponent’s about 3 out every 4 times this happens. It’s no surprise then when we see a player’s face drop when their opponent flips this hand over. It’s a hideous monster with fangs and bad breath.
KK is not far behind rockets at all. Against a random hand the Kings have an average equity of 82.4%. Against two random hands Kings enjoy 70% equity. When played in a heads-up pot, they will crush a random hand 4 out of every 5 times you stack-off with them, but the keyword here is random. Most good players will be playing tight and only stacking off preflop with a value range of about 3%. This looks like {JJ+ AKo AQs}. In this case the Kings have an equity of about 63% and we expect to win just shy of 2/3rds of the time. This is not a huge advantage compared to the Aces and sometimes makes the Kings muckable against the tightest regs and nits. “Muck Kings you say?? He must be out of his mind”, well there’s method to my madness and here’s why: The tightest regs and nits will have dropped Jacks and Ace-Queen from their 4bet/5bet ranges. This makes their stack-offs look like {QQ+ AKs AKo} or 2%. In this case our Kings will have lost most of their strength as our equity vs. a 2% range is now only 57%. And the news gets worse. If they are the nittiest nits in nitland they will have even removed QQ giving their 4/5bet range 52% equity Vs. our KK and turning a stackoff into a coinflip. Now, there is light at the end of the tunnel, obviously facing a range of 1-2% is the extreme and not the norm. Against many opponent’s we will be in a strong position with KK, but it is good to have these statistics in mind in case we do run into heavy action from nits. You’re allowed to fold your Kings against those guys, and feel good about it afterwards. There’s no point in playing heads or tails with your bankroll. One caveat though: Against fish, bad regs and maniacs, your Kings are a dangerous weapon and should be played aggressively, although do take care on A-high boards!
QQ although beneath the Aces and Kings, Queens are still a powerhouse hand and should be played as such. In terms of equity, the hand has an impressive 80% vs. a random hand. Against 2 random opponent hands, the Queens’ equity will drop to about 65%. This is not terrible, but it means that Queens need to be played more cautiously than Aces and Kings. Let’s again examine a stack-off situation with a nitty opponent with a 3% 3Bet/4Bet range. Looking at equities again: QQ has about 48% equity against a 3% range which is just less than a coinflip. This is considerably weaker than the Aces (84%) and Kings (63%) Vs. this range. If we go to the worst case scenario again where the Nit has removed {JJ, QQ and AQ} from their range, our Queens now have only a 39.8% chance of coming out on top. It is very important not to limp or bet small with Queens as they do not perform well multiway. Queens need to be raised big or folded, as they are looking to get heads up with 1 weak ranged opponent. On that point, one of the biggest leaks I’ve seen at the micros and some of the higher stakes is players getting into stack-off wars with Nits and taking their Queens too far. As you can see from the running the numbers. This is not a good idea. Of course you will spike the odd Q by the river but in the long run you will get stacked by going head to head with nits. Just like the Kings, QQ should be played aggressively against fish and weak ranges but be ready to ditch them facing significant action from good tight regs.
AK Suited & Offsuit are by far two of the biggest leak hands in many players’ games. When played correctly AK is a monster and commands respect. Unfortunately it has some of the highest potential for way ahead/way behind situations. Just looking at equity here AK Suited has 67% equity Vs. 1 opponent with a random hand while AK Offsuit has about 65%. If we’re going multiway with 2 opponent’s AKs will now only have 50.7%,at best a coin flip. Now if we return to the example of stacking off with 1 nitty 3% player, we will have an equity of only 45%. If they’re the super tight nit with no {JJ, QQ and AQ} this will drop to 40%, which is a losing proposition in the long run. I think a lot of players find this very surprising. When we think about Ace-King, we think about “Big-Slick”, the celebrity Powerhouse hand that Poker players love to be dealt. Yes, it’s true this hand can be very Powerful, but unlike Aces and Kings it is still looking for additional cards to improve. Unfortunately at least 1 or even 2 of the cards that it needs to improve is likely to be in the nits hand already. So how are you going to make money? If you have a habit of stacking off against regs pre-flop with AKs and AKo then I would suggest doing something about it. Your win-rate and bankroll will thank you. Just like {AA KK QQ} play AK Suited and Offsuit aggressively against A-x maniacs, bad regs and fish, and remember to proceed with caution against solid, tight opponents.
Thanks for reading. Questions and comments welcome.
G
I've written this post to examine some common situations that arise between regs in Ring Games. Some of it may also apply to SNGs/MTTs. Hope you enjoy.
AA has a preflop starting equity of 85.2% vs.1 opponent with any random hand. This is an enormous advantage and is the reason why during a stack-off nearly 9 times out of 10 the unfortunate caller/raiser gets totally crushed. It is such a strong hand that even if you give the other player a 3Bet/4Bet/5Bet stacking off range of 3%, the Aces’ equity in the hand only drops to 83.7% (almost nothing). If we add 1 additional villain, so that the Aces are stacking off multiway with 2 opponent’s their equity only drops to about 73.5%. This means they will still crush both of those opponent’s about 3 out every 4 times this happens. It’s no surprise then when we see a player’s face drop when their opponent flips this hand over. It’s a hideous monster with fangs and bad breath.
KK is not far behind rockets at all. Against a random hand the Kings have an average equity of 82.4%. Against two random hands Kings enjoy 70% equity. When played in a heads-up pot, they will crush a random hand 4 out of every 5 times you stack-off with them, but the keyword here is random. Most good players will be playing tight and only stacking off preflop with a value range of about 3%. This looks like {JJ+ AKo AQs}. In this case the Kings have an equity of about 63% and we expect to win just shy of 2/3rds of the time. This is not a huge advantage compared to the Aces and sometimes makes the Kings muckable against the tightest regs and nits. “Muck Kings you say?? He must be out of his mind”, well there’s method to my madness and here’s why: The tightest regs and nits will have dropped Jacks and Ace-Queen from their 4bet/5bet ranges. This makes their stack-offs look like {QQ+ AKs AKo} or 2%. In this case our Kings will have lost most of their strength as our equity vs. a 2% range is now only 57%. And the news gets worse. If they are the nittiest nits in nitland they will have even removed QQ giving their 4/5bet range 52% equity Vs. our KK and turning a stackoff into a coinflip. Now, there is light at the end of the tunnel, obviously facing a range of 1-2% is the extreme and not the norm. Against many opponent’s we will be in a strong position with KK, but it is good to have these statistics in mind in case we do run into heavy action from nits. You’re allowed to fold your Kings against those guys, and feel good about it afterwards. There’s no point in playing heads or tails with your bankroll. One caveat though: Against fish, bad regs and maniacs, your Kings are a dangerous weapon and should be played aggressively, although do take care on A-high boards!
QQ although beneath the Aces and Kings, Queens are still a powerhouse hand and should be played as such. In terms of equity, the hand has an impressive 80% vs. a random hand. Against 2 random opponent hands, the Queens’ equity will drop to about 65%. This is not terrible, but it means that Queens need to be played more cautiously than Aces and Kings. Let’s again examine a stack-off situation with a nitty opponent with a 3% 3Bet/4Bet range. Looking at equities again: QQ has about 48% equity against a 3% range which is just less than a coinflip. This is considerably weaker than the Aces (84%) and Kings (63%) Vs. this range. If we go to the worst case scenario again where the Nit has removed {JJ, QQ and AQ} from their range, our Queens now have only a 39.8% chance of coming out on top. It is very important not to limp or bet small with Queens as they do not perform well multiway. Queens need to be raised big or folded, as they are looking to get heads up with 1 weak ranged opponent. On that point, one of the biggest leaks I’ve seen at the micros and some of the higher stakes is players getting into stack-off wars with Nits and taking their Queens too far. As you can see from the running the numbers. This is not a good idea. Of course you will spike the odd Q by the river but in the long run you will get stacked by going head to head with nits. Just like the Kings, QQ should be played aggressively against fish and weak ranges but be ready to ditch them facing significant action from good tight regs.
AK Suited & Offsuit are by far two of the biggest leak hands in many players’ games. When played correctly AK is a monster and commands respect. Unfortunately it has some of the highest potential for way ahead/way behind situations. Just looking at equity here AK Suited has 67% equity Vs. 1 opponent with a random hand while AK Offsuit has about 65%. If we’re going multiway with 2 opponent’s AKs will now only have 50.7%,at best a coin flip. Now if we return to the example of stacking off with 1 nitty 3% player, we will have an equity of only 45%. If they’re the super tight nit with no {JJ, QQ and AQ} this will drop to 40%, which is a losing proposition in the long run. I think a lot of players find this very surprising. When we think about Ace-King, we think about “Big-Slick”, the celebrity Powerhouse hand that Poker players love to be dealt. Yes, it’s true this hand can be very Powerful, but unlike Aces and Kings it is still looking for additional cards to improve. Unfortunately at least 1 or even 2 of the cards that it needs to improve is likely to be in the nits hand already. So how are you going to make money? If you have a habit of stacking off against regs pre-flop with AKs and AKo then I would suggest doing something about it. Your win-rate and bankroll will thank you. Just like {AA KK QQ} play AK Suited and Offsuit aggressively against A-x maniacs, bad regs and fish, and remember to proceed with caution against solid, tight opponents.
Thanks for reading. Questions and comments welcome.
G
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