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In the final section of our learning series on poker studying, we are going to review hands that have been posted in the forum recently; three cash hands and three tournament hands to see if we can identify any takeaways for the OP and recognize any oddities of these hands. We'll use tools previously mentioned to break these down. Where possible, we have NOT looked at any spoilers before going through the hand to ensure we have our thoughts before we see the end results. To make these posts a little shorter, we present the three cash hands today; in a few days the tournament hands will follow!
Cash Hand #1: €400 NL HE Full Ring: Big River decision on the last hand of the night
Preflop: We'll start with a cash hand played at $400 NL - effectively $2/$4 blinds. Here we see a four bet called preflop by the Villain with commentary from the Hero (thread poster) that this is the last hand of the night, and the Villain is probably calling wide. Given that they 3-bet and called, we'll leave their range closer to that of a 3-better vs calling a four-bet which looks like this:
As for the Hero four betting, this is what their range looks like pre-flop:
Hero is quite polarized to premium pocket pairs and AK and AQs, whereas Villain has more suited and non-suited aces, more pairs, and KQ, KJ, and sometimes KQo.
The Flop and Turn: The flop and turn do nothing for either range effectively - but what is surprising is that we don't see a bet from Hero. I'd like to think a solid 33% bet would provide enough info to know if the Villain has interest to continue, because I feel the way Hero played it, they are effectively saying, "I have AK or AQs"; a pair in the 4-bet range would have enough incentive to build the pot given the only pair that is in the range that wouldn't like the board is TT and sometimes 99. By betting, we keep the villain guessing more if we have a pocket pair or not, than by simply checking.
The River: So when the Villain bets the river - and a sizeable river, they are giving off vibes of a mid-pocket pair. A hand that they didn't want to take the lead on before now, but knowing that the Hero has checked twice in position, I'm guessing we are going to see TT, 77 or 66 because - and this is the unknown - if they are aware of a four bet range pre-flop, Villain should be able to deduce that Hero doesn't have a premium pocket pair, but AK or AQ and might be able to get a hero call. They are more than likely comfortable knowing a shove isn't coming by the way the hand went.
Outcome
So the Villain has...22? This was a surprise to see them calling a four bet pre-flop as this is way outside even a standard 3-betting range, especially out of position. However, once you get past that, their passiveness is obvious - they have bottom pair until the river and may not be ahead. But the river giving them a set, all of sudden NOW they want to build a pot - and on a 2? Villain's line doesn't make sense, so I can't fault Hero for calling here. We absolutely need to remember that the Villain called a four bet out of position with pocket 2's, as this is going to be great intel the next time we see them in a three-bet position. We need to consider a much wider range like this for them:
Cash Hand #2: €100 NL HE 6-max: Turned straight nightmare river!
Preflop
We go down to the $100 NL streets for this hand where we find an open from the button by Villain, and a defend by the Hero from the big blind. This hand our initial range is going to be much wider than the last hand, with almost half of all hands in play with a raise from the button:
We are going to defend almost as wide - if not wider, depending on the opponent, which gives us roughly this range:
The Flop: The flop gives us all sorts of options but really plays into both players' ranges when you consider how wide they are.
The Turn: Interesting line on the turn to bet here but I do like the thought process of building the pot if the straight hits; which it does and gets called.
The River: The river gets complicated when Hero slows down with the paired jack, and induces a bet from Villain. It feels a lot like the Villain has a jack, but the question is do they have trips, or do they have a boat? Betting the flop with the draws in play; slowing down when the draw hits, and then betting when the board pairs. J8 is in their potential range, but I don't think this is a stone cold bluff given the straight draw hit on the turn and the bet on the river.
Outcome
Villain has QJdd and did in fact river a boat. This is a very difficult fold on the river (in my opinion) given how wide their range started with, how tentative they were when the straight came, and then all of a sudden how they came to life on the river with the paired jack.
The takeaway from this: Villain is more than prepared to pay off a straight on the turn when they have better than a pair, so sizing up on the turn and then following up with a smaller bet on the river when it bricks should get both streets paid; but be weary when they come out swinging on a paired river card.
Hand #3: $2 NLHE 6-max
We finish our cash session review in the $2 NL streets, where many of us started out playing.
Preflop: The OP notes that our villain's VPIP is 27 which produces a range that looks like this:
On the Flop: The interesting part of this hand is the check-raise on the flop. With a VPIP of 27, I'd be curious to know what hands they have defended from the big blind previous to this to see if there's any intel there. Regardless, their range is wide pre-flop but the check-raise should raise the question - why now? Is it:
The Dilemma: The question is this: is that bet enough to scare you off from improving on the river? To me, the check raise and then the bet feels like a draw on the flop that hit on the turn; but it feels like the straight and not the flush. We have a re-draw on the river to the nut flush, and the turn bet is less than twice the flop check-raise, so I'm not sold I'd fold.
Outcome: Unfortunately, we don't know Villain's hand so we can't validate our read but the lesson here is to be aware of the check-raise from the big blind post flop when out of position. If they do this again with a draw heavy flop, could they have it both times? Or, is it more likely that they are bluffing both times??
Stay tuned in a few days when we go through 3 tournament hands on the last part of the studying series!
Make sure to subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index, and turn your notifications on.
Check out parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Studying Poker Series:
Cash Hand #1: €400 NL HE Full Ring: Big River decision on the last hand of the night
Preflop: We'll start with a cash hand played at $400 NL - effectively $2/$4 blinds. Here we see a four bet called preflop by the Villain with commentary from the Hero (thread poster) that this is the last hand of the night, and the Villain is probably calling wide. Given that they 3-bet and called, we'll leave their range closer to that of a 3-better vs calling a four-bet which looks like this:
As for the Hero four betting, this is what their range looks like pre-flop:
Hero is quite polarized to premium pocket pairs and AK and AQs, whereas Villain has more suited and non-suited aces, more pairs, and KQ, KJ, and sometimes KQo.
The Flop and Turn: The flop and turn do nothing for either range effectively - but what is surprising is that we don't see a bet from Hero. I'd like to think a solid 33% bet would provide enough info to know if the Villain has interest to continue, because I feel the way Hero played it, they are effectively saying, "I have AK or AQs"; a pair in the 4-bet range would have enough incentive to build the pot given the only pair that is in the range that wouldn't like the board is TT and sometimes 99. By betting, we keep the villain guessing more if we have a pocket pair or not, than by simply checking.
The River: So when the Villain bets the river - and a sizeable river, they are giving off vibes of a mid-pocket pair. A hand that they didn't want to take the lead on before now, but knowing that the Hero has checked twice in position, I'm guessing we are going to see TT, 77 or 66 because - and this is the unknown - if they are aware of a four bet range pre-flop, Villain should be able to deduce that Hero doesn't have a premium pocket pair, but AK or AQ and might be able to get a hero call. They are more than likely comfortable knowing a shove isn't coming by the way the hand went.
Outcome
So the Villain has...22? This was a surprise to see them calling a four bet pre-flop as this is way outside even a standard 3-betting range, especially out of position. However, once you get past that, their passiveness is obvious - they have bottom pair until the river and may not be ahead. But the river giving them a set, all of sudden NOW they want to build a pot - and on a 2? Villain's line doesn't make sense, so I can't fault Hero for calling here. We absolutely need to remember that the Villain called a four bet out of position with pocket 2's, as this is going to be great intel the next time we see them in a three-bet position. We need to consider a much wider range like this for them:
Cash Hand #2: €100 NL HE 6-max: Turned straight nightmare river!
Preflop
We go down to the $100 NL streets for this hand where we find an open from the button by Villain, and a defend by the Hero from the big blind. This hand our initial range is going to be much wider than the last hand, with almost half of all hands in play with a raise from the button:
We are going to defend almost as wide - if not wider, depending on the opponent, which gives us roughly this range:
The Flop: The flop gives us all sorts of options but really plays into both players' ranges when you consider how wide they are.
The Turn: Interesting line on the turn to bet here but I do like the thought process of building the pot if the straight hits; which it does and gets called.
The River: The river gets complicated when Hero slows down with the paired jack, and induces a bet from Villain. It feels a lot like the Villain has a jack, but the question is do they have trips, or do they have a boat? Betting the flop with the draws in play; slowing down when the draw hits, and then betting when the board pairs. J8 is in their potential range, but I don't think this is a stone cold bluff given the straight draw hit on the turn and the bet on the river.
Outcome
Villain has QJdd and did in fact river a boat. This is a very difficult fold on the river (in my opinion) given how wide their range started with, how tentative they were when the straight came, and then all of a sudden how they came to life on the river with the paired jack.
The takeaway from this: Villain is more than prepared to pay off a straight on the turn when they have better than a pair, so sizing up on the turn and then following up with a smaller bet on the river when it bricks should get both streets paid; but be weary when they come out swinging on a paired river card.
Hand #3: $2 NLHE 6-max
We finish our cash session review in the $2 NL streets, where many of us started out playing.
Preflop: The OP notes that our villain's VPIP is 27 which produces a range that looks like this:
On the Flop: The interesting part of this hand is the check-raise on the flop. With a VPIP of 27, I'd be curious to know what hands they have defended from the big blind previous to this to see if there's any intel there. Regardless, their range is wide pre-flop but the check-raise should raise the question - why now? Is it:
- I think the original raiser is weak on this board and I want to steal the pot
- I have a monster hand and I think they will call a check raise to build a pot
- I have a draw that I don't want to have to hit - or - if it does hit I want to represent it
The Dilemma: The question is this: is that bet enough to scare you off from improving on the river? To me, the check raise and then the bet feels like a draw on the flop that hit on the turn; but it feels like the straight and not the flush. We have a re-draw on the river to the nut flush, and the turn bet is less than twice the flop check-raise, so I'm not sold I'd fold.
Outcome: Unfortunately, we don't know Villain's hand so we can't validate our read but the lesson here is to be aware of the check-raise from the big blind post flop when out of position. If they do this again with a draw heavy flop, could they have it both times? Or, is it more likely that they are bluffing both times??
Stay tuned in a few days when we go through 3 tournament hands on the last part of the studying series!
Make sure to subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index, and turn your notifications on.
Check out parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Studying Poker Series:
- CardsChat Learning Series - Studying Poker, Part 1: Studying Off the Felt
- CardsChat Learning Series - Studying Poker, Part 2: Studying On the Felt
- CardsChat Learning Series - Studying Poker, Part 3: Poker Tools
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