holyfield5
01-09-2007, 05:28 AM
OK a little on my background - I had been playing live poker for about a year, home games and bars mostly almost exclusively tournaments but I was always looked at as one of the best players. Use to watch the tv shows, understood what was going on and thought i had an excellent grasp of the game.....I didnt. Decided to throw my hat in the ring of online poker cash and found a surprising number of leaks, it took me a while to find why i was only breaking even and well here is many of the mistakes i naturally made, maybe pointing them out will help some of you. This post assumes youve read all the other great essential post in the sticky(some reiteration, some mindless babble inc). This is train of though so bear with me.
Pocket Pairs - I was new to playing all the lower pocket pairs, when i played live i would play generally 99+ and 55 but i was mainly playing them for overpair value and 55 for set value because it was my lucky hand. Effective play of pocket pairs seems pretty straightfoward but I think many may still be over or underplaying them.
When in early position and your pair is lower its advisable to limp, because you do not want to be reraised(and i raise so much its good for my image to limp sometimes), though often with the donkish minraises you will still have the odds to call i dont like it. Letting someone else raise usually gives you a free extra bet to win if you connect on the flop and makes that person feel like you are robbing THEIR pot so they will foolishy defend too hard at times. Also you get the oppurtunity let them hang themselves with their own rope, you can decide to check raise their bet or call and lead out. Many see such a strong play by you as just that...a play....and will pay you off or felt with you on the flop with garbage.(note: Im not condoning slowplaying of sets, i rarely if ever slowplay sets, but if the board is decently dry HU checking to the preflop raiser can get you a lot of value. though if with your style you donkbet often you should probably do it here also)
also its a GREAT time to steal from the blinds if you get only 1 limper. Since it is a raise you dont have to defend after the flop if you choose not to(and still profit) any skill level should be comfortable with it.
No set no bet - I see many times where I am tempted to cbet the flop with my weakish pairs but these hands actually have showdown value(dont get me wrong its definitely right to cbet them sparingly mainly with low low pairs on a dry board), especially the middle range ones....if you bet the flop you are robbing yourself of a showdown win and value most likely for a shot at taking it down now. You are also damaging your image for cbetting a little for a time when you have whiffed 810s and need to take the pot. Villians want to believe you never get out of hand and play your hands as straightfoward as they do so checking down 33 is great.
if checked to you on the turn, bet here for value if your pair is in the middle, check if its low generally.....also the flop and/or turn checks induce bluffs which is going to give your pairs a lot of value if you have the stones to call them down sometimes.
OOP fold your pairs to aggression there is no shame in it, but in position its often right to call down. If I have 99 on a 58Q flop im gonna be smooth calling the flop, and folding turn if bet into again, and value betting the river if checked to.....many many times i will call a reasonable river bet also and i show down a winner the vast majority of the time, dont know if i can explain this particular skill well enough though but try it out.
reraising higher pairs - Whether or not I do this depends on the table, some tables are great for reraising, but some of those guys slowplay KK/AA etc preflop or call reraises with such garbage and float so it makes it worthless without super premium hands. At the bad tables which tend to be most, i wont reraise 10-JJ AK/AQ OOP for the most part, but when i do im looking to take it down PF. If overs come im generally abadoning ship, i know it sucks to throw away JJ like that but with this style of opponent i think its best. If its an overpair im usually check calling down. In position its fine though if you desire to RR.
If they raise/reraise PF and dont bet the flop, bet out on the turn, they are just screaming for you to rob them. Also its pretty safe to beat out in LP if checked through flop and to you on turn regardless of holdings.
Value betting the river - I cannot stress enough how much this has added to my winrate, you need to be relentlessly value betting your rivers, I almost always get 2 streets of value off middle pair and above, its amazing some of the calls that get made. Fold to reraises obviously but value bet. **hands like AK/AQ 44 unimproved just check down**
If checked to you on the river and you missed everything, almost regardless of previous action you should bet about 2/3 pot....even if its a pretty large pot(up to about 25-30bb id say), this takes the pot down so much its silly, very few have the guts to use this bet and fewer the guts to call it(rightly so). I hate showing down garbage hands if i cbet or called a bet with them so im happy to get a chance to muck. If you get called oh well, Update your image, your opponents will probably look you up very lightly after seeing that and give your money back.
Use your blocking bets(at this level they are value bets too lol) If you have a decent holding make good use of these OOP, they work like a charm and will also score you a lot of value. With this tool you do not have to be as afraid of scare cards, b/c few will raise your bet with air when one hits(fold to RR obv)
TPGK etc - OOP check this....its not a hand in a protect category, its a good hand with a lot of showdown value, but you dont want to bloat the pot. you can still get 2 streets of value out of it though. Learn to be comfortable with check/calling down certain hands, suggest strong hand reading skills first though.
Raised You - Respect the raises, if they are raising light it wont take long to see this and usually those people raise so light because they actually think their hand is good and will felt with your better hand. If the fish bet into you 2 consecutive streets he probably has it....if he minraises you, call because you have the odds but fold to further aggression generally if your hands is not the best.
AK/AQ - OOP i like a passive line with this, even if you connect, if you hit check calling all the way down usually manages to get me a pot of 50bb from people with weaker aces or bluffing the ace. You do NOT want to get raised off this hand if you hit. I look at AK like meh these days, the only real value it has to me is in catching induced bluffs or over aggros.
On the flop at this level im willing to go broke with overpair++ on dry/moist boards, on wet boards, usually bet/call reraise with 2pr and re-eval(block til showdown) turn or felt trips/monster draws.
I wish i could explain my bluffcatcher because i think its one of my best skills but I dont know how.....sorry. so for now until you hone your own its best just to let the hands go. In general though, if you have called 2 streets call the third(you should have been thinking about this before your second call) If something obvious just showed up in a nice sized pot on the river usually the closer their bet is to pot the less chance they have it(though a pot bet is something to be wary of) As i said its hard to explain the bluff catching so if you arent use to this already and can tell what im talking about take this paragraph with a grain of salt.
Holla
Pocket Pairs - I was new to playing all the lower pocket pairs, when i played live i would play generally 99+ and 55 but i was mainly playing them for overpair value and 55 for set value because it was my lucky hand. Effective play of pocket pairs seems pretty straightfoward but I think many may still be over or underplaying them.
When in early position and your pair is lower its advisable to limp, because you do not want to be reraised(and i raise so much its good for my image to limp sometimes), though often with the donkish minraises you will still have the odds to call i dont like it. Letting someone else raise usually gives you a free extra bet to win if you connect on the flop and makes that person feel like you are robbing THEIR pot so they will foolishy defend too hard at times. Also you get the oppurtunity let them hang themselves with their own rope, you can decide to check raise their bet or call and lead out. Many see such a strong play by you as just that...a play....and will pay you off or felt with you on the flop with garbage.(note: Im not condoning slowplaying of sets, i rarely if ever slowplay sets, but if the board is decently dry HU checking to the preflop raiser can get you a lot of value. though if with your style you donkbet often you should probably do it here also)
also its a GREAT time to steal from the blinds if you get only 1 limper. Since it is a raise you dont have to defend after the flop if you choose not to(and still profit) any skill level should be comfortable with it.
No set no bet - I see many times where I am tempted to cbet the flop with my weakish pairs but these hands actually have showdown value(dont get me wrong its definitely right to cbet them sparingly mainly with low low pairs on a dry board), especially the middle range ones....if you bet the flop you are robbing yourself of a showdown win and value most likely for a shot at taking it down now. You are also damaging your image for cbetting a little for a time when you have whiffed 810s and need to take the pot. Villians want to believe you never get out of hand and play your hands as straightfoward as they do so checking down 33 is great.
if checked to you on the turn, bet here for value if your pair is in the middle, check if its low generally.....also the flop and/or turn checks induce bluffs which is going to give your pairs a lot of value if you have the stones to call them down sometimes.
OOP fold your pairs to aggression there is no shame in it, but in position its often right to call down. If I have 99 on a 58Q flop im gonna be smooth calling the flop, and folding turn if bet into again, and value betting the river if checked to.....many many times i will call a reasonable river bet also and i show down a winner the vast majority of the time, dont know if i can explain this particular skill well enough though but try it out.
reraising higher pairs - Whether or not I do this depends on the table, some tables are great for reraising, but some of those guys slowplay KK/AA etc preflop or call reraises with such garbage and float so it makes it worthless without super premium hands. At the bad tables which tend to be most, i wont reraise 10-JJ AK/AQ OOP for the most part, but when i do im looking to take it down PF. If overs come im generally abadoning ship, i know it sucks to throw away JJ like that but with this style of opponent i think its best. If its an overpair im usually check calling down. In position its fine though if you desire to RR.
If they raise/reraise PF and dont bet the flop, bet out on the turn, they are just screaming for you to rob them. Also its pretty safe to beat out in LP if checked through flop and to you on turn regardless of holdings.
Value betting the river - I cannot stress enough how much this has added to my winrate, you need to be relentlessly value betting your rivers, I almost always get 2 streets of value off middle pair and above, its amazing some of the calls that get made. Fold to reraises obviously but value bet. **hands like AK/AQ 44 unimproved just check down**
If checked to you on the river and you missed everything, almost regardless of previous action you should bet about 2/3 pot....even if its a pretty large pot(up to about 25-30bb id say), this takes the pot down so much its silly, very few have the guts to use this bet and fewer the guts to call it(rightly so). I hate showing down garbage hands if i cbet or called a bet with them so im happy to get a chance to muck. If you get called oh well, Update your image, your opponents will probably look you up very lightly after seeing that and give your money back.
Use your blocking bets(at this level they are value bets too lol) If you have a decent holding make good use of these OOP, they work like a charm and will also score you a lot of value. With this tool you do not have to be as afraid of scare cards, b/c few will raise your bet with air when one hits(fold to RR obv)
TPGK etc - OOP check this....its not a hand in a protect category, its a good hand with a lot of showdown value, but you dont want to bloat the pot. you can still get 2 streets of value out of it though. Learn to be comfortable with check/calling down certain hands, suggest strong hand reading skills first though.
Raised You - Respect the raises, if they are raising light it wont take long to see this and usually those people raise so light because they actually think their hand is good and will felt with your better hand. If the fish bet into you 2 consecutive streets he probably has it....if he minraises you, call because you have the odds but fold to further aggression generally if your hands is not the best.
AK/AQ - OOP i like a passive line with this, even if you connect, if you hit check calling all the way down usually manages to get me a pot of 50bb from people with weaker aces or bluffing the ace. You do NOT want to get raised off this hand if you hit. I look at AK like meh these days, the only real value it has to me is in catching induced bluffs or over aggros.
On the flop at this level im willing to go broke with overpair++ on dry/moist boards, on wet boards, usually bet/call reraise with 2pr and re-eval(block til showdown) turn or felt trips/monster draws.
I wish i could explain my bluffcatcher because i think its one of my best skills but I dont know how.....sorry. so for now until you hone your own its best just to let the hands go. In general though, if you have called 2 streets call the third(you should have been thinking about this before your second call) If something obvious just showed up in a nice sized pot on the river usually the closer their bet is to pot the less chance they have it(though a pot bet is something to be wary of) As i said its hard to explain the bluff catching so if you arent use to this already and can tell what im talking about take this paragraph with a grain of salt.
Holla