Polished Poker Vol. I Study Group

[John A]

PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: $6.23 (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 100.00, Hands: 7)
CO: $2.22 (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
BTN: $1.92 (VPIP: 20.69, PFR: 13.79, 3Bet Preflop: 18.18, Hands: 30)
Hero (SB): $2.07
BB: $1.69 (VPIP: 17.35, PFR: 10.20, 3Bet Preflop: 3.03, Hands: 100)

Hero posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has Q♦ Q♠

fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.08, Hero raises to $0.26, BB calls $0.24, BTN raises to $1.04, Hero raises to $2.07 and is all-in, BB calls $1.43 and is all-in, BTN calls $0.88 and is all-in

Flop: ($5.53, 3 players) 3♦ J♣ 2♠

Turn: ($5.53, 3 players) 6♦

River: ($5.53, 3 players) J♠

Opponents both had AA and KK haha

This is fine considering the dynamic - open button. But something to keep in mind that I've seen a little. Some of the weak players at some of the micro stakes, they'll 4-bet large with their big hands - AK/KK+. I think just because they aren't sure what the sizing should be but they know they have a strong hand. There is of course just the nutballs, but if someone is just playing a fairly
"normal game", keep this in mind too. You're still not folding here of course.

 

[John A]

Just got back from a short vacation, so we'll be getting back into some concept on the workbook here soon.

 

[Figaroo2]

Tilted by a bad run

Help
can't win a hand

 

[Figaroo2]

worst of it

Not finding the fold button

 

[John A]

Yeah, I think you're starting to go through a bit of that learning curve where you're trying to do a little "too much". It's all part of the learning process. You have to experiment and figure out what you can get away with, what isn't profitable against certain opponents. I'm seeing some hands where you're not giving up. Now you just have to find that balance of when you should be pushing people off hands, floating, or letting it go.

Keep posting some hands in here.

 

[Figaroo2]

poker stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 7 Players

SB: $25 (100 bb)
Hero (BB): $25 (100 bb)
MP1: $20.78 (83.1 bb) 59/10/40 in 58 hands fish
MP2: $85.41 (341.6 bb)
MP3: $25 (100 bb)
CO: $14.49 (58 bb) 14/7/30 in 43 hands
BTN: $25 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5

9

MP1 calls $0.25, 2 folds, CO calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.85) 6

6

8

(3 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks, CO bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, MP1 calls $0.40

Turn: ($2.05) 7

(3 players)
Hero bets $0.98, MP1 calls $0.98, CO calls $0.98 (a tad ambitious)

River: ($4.99) Q

(3 players)
Hero bets $2.38, MP1 raises to $6.01, CO calls $6.01, Hero folds (bad bet clearly already beaten, if two have called one usually has at least a flush or better)

Results: $19.39 pot ($0.87 rake)
Final Board: 6

6

8

7

Q

Hero mucked 5

9

and lost (-$4.01 net)
MP1 showed 9

5

and won $18.52 ($10.88 net)
CO mucked A

2

and lost (-$7.64 net)

 

[Figaroo2]

Just not believing... afterthe event this looks really poor, I'm not beating anything.

Pacific, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players

SB: $10.26 (102.6 bb)
Hero (BB): $16.27 (162.7 bb)
UTG+2: $10.89 (108.9 bb)
MP1: $10 (100 bb)
MP2: $11.29 (112.9 bb) 26/8/23 in 238 hands
MP3: $7.07 (70.7 bb)
CO: $12.31 (123.1 bb)
BTN: $26.25 (262.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T

T

2 folds, MP2 raises to $0.30, 4 folds, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65) K

9

2

(2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $0.48, Hero calls $0.48

Turn: ($1.61) 7

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.80, MP2 calls $0.80

River: ($3.21) 9

(2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

Results: $6.41 pot ($0.32 rake)
Final Board: K

9

2

7

9

Hero showed T

T

and lost (-$3.18 net)
MP2 showed J

K

and won $6.09 ($2.91 net)

 

[rhombus]

we all hit variance but i noticed that you are playing different levels as well. $10 and $25 maybe stick to the lower levels till you ride the wave

 

[John A]

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 7 Players

SB: $25 (100 bb)
Hero (BB): $25 (100 bb)
MP1: $20.78 (83.1 bb) 59/10/40 in 58 hands fish
MP2: $85.41 (341.6 bb)
MP3: $25 (100 bb)
CO: $14.49 (58 bb) 14/7/30 in 43 hands
BTN: $25 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5

9

MP1 calls $0.25, 2 folds, CO calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.85) 6

6

8

(3 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks, CO bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, MP1 calls $0.40

Standard fold on the flop OOP and multi-way. The rest is pretty standard except I might bet a little more on the turn.

 

[John A]

Just not believing... afterthe event this looks really poor, I'm not beating anything.

Pacific, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players

SB: $10.26 (102.6 bb)
Hero (BB): $16.27 (162.7 bb)
UTG+2: $10.89 (108.9 bb)
MP1: $10 (100 bb)
MP2: $11.29 (112.9 bb) 26/8/23 in 238 hands
MP3: $7.07 (70.7 bb)
CO: $12.31 (123.1 bb)
BTN: $26.25 (262.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T

T

2 folds, MP2 raises to $0.30, 4 folds, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65) K

9

2

(2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $0.48, Hero calls $0.48

Turn: ($1.61) 7

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.80, MP2 calls $0.80

River: ($3.21) 9

(2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

Results: $6.41 pot ($0.32 rake)
Final Board: K

9

2

7

9

Hero showed T

T

and lost (-$3.18 net)
MP2 showed J

K

and won $6.09 ($2.91 net)

Yeah, this is a prime example of what I was saying in my previous post. You are realizing a lot more about range and how people approach situations, and you're in that spot where you're struggling to understand when you should believe. I like how you played this hand, up until the c/c on the river. You should be bet / folding or c/ fing.

 

[mottotom27]

BTN: $8.45 (84.5 bb)
SB: $14.18 (141.8 bb)
BB: $10 (100 bb)
UTG+1: $10 (100 bb)
UTG+2: $10 (100 bb)
MP1: $21.81 (218.1 bb)
MP2: $19.52 (195.2 bb)
MP3: $10 (100 bb)
Hero (CO): $10 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ah As
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.75) 2d 2c Qh (2 players)
Hero bets $0.47, BTN calls $0.47

Turn: ($1.69) Ts (2 players)
Hero bets $1.20, BTN calls $1.20

River: ($4.09) 8c (2 players)
Hero bets $2.70, BTN raises to $6.48, Hero ?

villain 29/24 over 17 hands so he's showing signs of perhaps being a bit loose but not a complete whale so i don't expect many 2s in his range besides 22 and it's hard to put someone on quads. and QQ i expect him to reraise pre. TT is the only hand that really makes sense (besides quads) but there really aren't that many combos. i only need to be right just over 20% so in the end i decided he could be raising with a hand like QT figuring his two pair is good, or just some random missed draw like KJ/AJ he floated the flop and picked up a draw on the turn. Did i make the right decision to call here given the odds, or should i just respect the strength of his river raise?

 

[John A]

villain 29/24 over 17 hands so he's showing signs of perhaps being a bit loose but not a complete whale so i don't expect many 2s in his range besides 22 and it's hard to put someone on quads. and QQ i expect him to reraise pre. TT is the only hand that really makes sense (besides quads) but there really aren't that many combos. i only need to be right just over 20% so in the end i decided he could be raising with a hand like QT figuring his two pair is good, or just some random missed draw like KJ/AJ he floated the flop and picked up a draw on the turn. Did i make the right decision to call here given the odds, or should i just respect the strength of his river raise?

Yes you made the correct call. Given his range, and that he looks to be on the loose side and not fully stacked, he could have a decently wide range. You're ahead of his river raising range. I'm going to punch it up so you can see.

Ace Poker Drills Poker Equity Calculator
Board: 2d2cQhTs8c

equity Win Tie Hand Range
82.4% 81.6571% 0.7466% [Ah As]
17.6% 16.8496% 0.7466% [QQ+(40),AQo(40),QTs(100),TT(100),22(100),QTo(75),88(75)]

 

[Figaroo2]

Stack size looks fishy....stats looking loose. ...I wouldn't discount being called by A2 K2 suited. But he could also have all sorts Qx which he thinks is good as well. Backing into a set is possible (thats happened against me twice this week already ) but a little less likely..
meh its a close one.

 

[mottotom27]

Thanks John, i'm glad you confirmed my read was correct since i was a little unsure. What made it tough for me to make this call was that there's all that hype about baluga theorem and how at micros you "must fold one pair hands to turn and river raises". But obviously there must be exceptions and i guess this was one of them?

He actually showed up with KK which i didn't put him on although tbh it doesn't surprise me too much since i've seen a lot of fish slowplay their monsters

 

[mottotom27]

Backing into a set is possible
.

putting someone on a turned set is never easy, i've started doing it a little more often though recently but obviously it's only a fraction of his range here

 

[John A]

Thanks John, i'm glad you confirmed my read was correct since i was a little unsure. What made it tough for me to make this call was that there's all that hype about baluga theorem and how at micros you "must fold one pair hands to turn and river raises". But obviously there must be exceptions and i guess this was one of them?

He actually showed up with KK which i didn't put him on although tbh it doesn't surprise me too much since i've seen a lot of fish slowplay their monsters

Yeah, and notice the range I put in there. I discounted QQ+, but it's still in there because opponents aren't always 3-betting those hands. So you can't just remove them.

As far as the "Baluga Theorm", the games are much more aggressive then when Baluga could win several years ago. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be cautious with one pair hands, but you have to consider, which you rightly did, maybe this guy is shoving for what he thinks is value. Which is what ended up happening, but you had a better hand.

 

[John A]

For those of you using Leak Buster also, I put up a new video going over the new hand range generation feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsiRiU3aqzk

 

[mottotom27]

Yeah, and notice the range I put in there. I discounted QQ+, but it's still in there because opponents aren't always 3-betting those hands. So you can't just remove them.

As far as the "Baluga Theorm", the games are much more aggressive then when Baluga could win several years ago. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be cautious with one pair hands, but you have to consider, which you rightly did, maybe this guy is shoving for what he thinks is value. Which is what ended up happening, but you had a better hand.

yea i'm starting to think baluga theorem's going slightly out of date, although it can be useful sometimes. so AA is ahead of his value shoving range but what if you changed my hand to AQ, would i then be behind?

with the equity calculator, how do you find hands that aren't in any of the leaks? like you clicked on the hands tab in the triple barrel bluffing leak but i can't find a hands tab for my AA hand since that hand wasn't in any leak.

also how did you get the percentages you showed me? i plugged that range into flopzilla and got 65% for us

 

[John A]

yea i'm starting to think baluga theorem's going slightly out of date, although it can be useful sometimes. so AA is ahead of his value shoving range but what if you changed my hand to AQ, would i then be behind?

with the equity calculator, how do you find hands that aren't in any of the leaks? like you clicked on the hands tab in the triple barrel bluffing leak but i can't find a hands tab for my AA hand since that hand wasn't in any leak.

also how did you get the percentages you showed me? i plugged that range into flopzilla and got 65% for us

Yeah, that games have gotten much tougher since then. About 6 years ago or so, that statement would have been pretty true.

AQ would be much closer in terms of equity because of ties and the fact you're losing to AA and KK. The fact that your opponent probably isn't shoving with AQ or KQ often enough would make it very close because the board is so dry. We'd weight the hands much different in that case.

With the hands tab in leak buster, I'm going to add a recent top hands pop-out too, so you could find these kinds of hands easier. I'm also going to add the export on some of the other steps so you could go to top losses columns and export those hands. Right now it would just have to be in a specific leak which would be difficult to locate.

As far as my percentages, put the flopzilla export here and we can match it to see if you have the same hands. Nm.. I think the developer just added some strange bug. I thought those percentages looked high when I saw it, but was working fast. I just looked at the desktop version and it should be about 60% you.

 

[Figaroo2]

Bet sizing on the turn?
Lost the reg but hooked the fish.

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
SB: $25 (100 bb)
BB: $36.89 (147.6 bb)
UTG+1: $25 (100 bb)
UTG+2: $28.42 (113.7 bb) 17/13/38% agg in 558 (marked as a decent reg)
MP1: $27.15 (108.6 bb)
MP2: $17.72 (70.9 bb) 57/11/27 in 47 hands, fish
MP3: $31.01 (124 bb)
Hero (CO): $38.25 (153 bb)
BTN: $25 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K

J

UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 raises to $0.75, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.75, MP3 folds, Hero calls $0.75, 3 folds
A little loose but calling as the fish is in the hand, would have folded to just the reg opening.

Flop: ($2.60) Q

5

9

(3 players)
UTG+2 bets $1.75, MP2 calls $1.75, Hero calls $1.75

Turn: ($7.85) A

(3 players)
UTG+2 bets $3.50, MP2 calls $3.50, Hero raises to $10.75, UTG+2 folds, MP2 calls $7.25

River: ($32.85) A

(2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $4.75, MP2 calls $4.47 and is all-in

Results: $41.79 pot ($1.88 rake)
Final Board: Q

5

9

A

A

MP2 mucked K

Q

and lost (-$17.72 net)
Hero showed K

J

and won $39.91 ($22.19 net)

 

[Figaroo2]

I posted a funny hand in my thread where my opponent had a brain fart and overshoved x10 on the river with an ace flush into my quads (by definition of course full houses were possible because of the paired board). However the hand got me thinking about how is it best to get paid with a set when in the blinds or oop in general. I know it's very opponent and board specific but in general against a standard reg do we want to get frisky on the flop or wait until later in the hand.

 

[John A]

Bet sizing on the turn?
Lost the reg but hooked the fish.

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
SB: $25 (100 bb)
BB: $36.89 (147.6 bb)
UTG+1: $25 (100 bb)
UTG+2: $28.42 (113.7 bb) 17/13/38% agg in 558 (marked as a decent reg)
MP1: $27.15 (108.6 bb)
MP2: $17.72 (70.9 bb) 57/11/27 in 47 hands, fish
MP3: $31.01 (124 bb)
Hero (CO): $38.25 (153 bb)
BTN: $25 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K

J

UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 raises to $0.75, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.75, MP3 folds, Hero calls $0.75, 3 folds
A little loose but calling as the fish is in the hand, would have folded to just the reg opening.

Flop: ($2.60) Q

5

9

(3 players)
UTG+2 bets $1.75, MP2 calls $1.75, Hero calls $1.75

Turn: ($7.85) A

(3 players)
UTG+2 bets $3.50, MP2 calls $3.50, Hero raises to $10.75, UTG+2 folds, MP2 calls $7.25

River: ($32.85) A

(2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $4.75, MP2 calls $4.47 and is all-in

Results: $41.79 pot ($1.88 rake)
Final Board: Q

5

9

A

A

MP2 mucked K

Q

and lost (-$17.72 net)
Hero showed K

J

and won $39.91 ($22.19 net)

I'm probably just calling the turn, because no matter what you do the fish is going to pay you off on the river. So you might as well give your reg a chance to bet his hand or if it checks to you on the river, call with his hand.

 

[John A]

Thanks John, i'm glad you confirmed my read was correct since i was a little unsure. What made it tough for me to make this call was that there's all that hype about baluga theorem and how at micros you "must fold one pair hands to turn and river raises". But obviously there must be exceptions and i guess this was one of them?

He actually showed up with KK which i didn't put him on although tbh it doesn't surprise me too much since i've seen a lot of fish slowplay their monsters

On a side note, fixed that bug in the equity calculator. Really strange that it came up at all. But this would have been your equity:

Ace Poker Drills Poker Equity Calculator
Board: 2d 2c Qh Ts 8c

Equity Win Tie Hand Range
56.29% 55.1429% 1.1429% [Ah As]
43.71% 42.5714% 1.1429% [QQ+(40), QTs(100), TT(100), 22(100), QTo(75), 88(75),]

 

[mottotom27]

On a side note, fixed that bug in the equity calculator. Really strange that it came up at all. But this would have been your equity:

Ace Poker Drills Poker Equity Calculator
Board: 2d 2c Qh Ts 8c

Equity Win Tie Hand Range
56.29% 55.1429% 1.1429% [Ah As]
43.71% 42.5714% 1.1429% [QQ+(40), QTs(100), TT(100), 22(100), QTo(75), 88(75),]

awesome

 

[John A]

awesome

I'm going to put a last X big hands areas where you can review them in Leak buster and export them. Is there anywhere else or anything that would make it easier to grab hands when you're reviewing leaks in LB that you can think of?