True or False NL

[jay_shark]

I've come up with some true and false questions which may spark some interesting discussion . Since the questions may be a bit ambiguous , feel free to add anything else that you think may be pertinent to your decisions . If a question may have more than one answer then please stipulate why you think the decision may vary .

1)Smooth call all of your opponents raises when you have a playable hand and position .

2)Re-raise or fold when you're oop.

3)When facing a 3x raise oop , you may smooth call with offsuit/suited connectors .

4) You should NEVER limp on the button .

5) Bluffing on the river should be banned .

6) The only trash hands you should bluff with preflop are the suited connectors .

7) If you're giving your opponent 2:1 pot odds on the river , then your value hands to bluff hands should be in the ratio 2:1 .

8)You should never make a half size pot bet on a drawy board .

[omgwtfnoway]

1) define playable, i'm assuming this goes beyond, "i has pot odds." it depends on the remaining stack sizes, the difference in size between my bet and his raise and how early in the match it is. preflop i'm much more likely to smooth call a 3bet ip with a hand i consider playable than on the turn. i think this stems mostly from my conception that "playable" hands are benefiting somewhat from implied odds.
2)false. for example, there are a lot of hands i wouldn't mind playing out of position, but to 3bet my entire range without the benefit of position bloats the pot too frequently to be profitable imo.
3)true sometimes. this is more true for me in the first two levels. raising 3x at 25/50+ is very exploitable and i tend to start 3betting rather than calling.
back to the point, i think it's a good idea to mix in the ocassional low or middle connected hand to mix up my play but i try not to make a habit of it unless my opponent is very passive postflop.
4)false, i don't limp very frequently in the first two levels but limping at 25/50+ or when stacks are very short becomes an attractive option. until recently i frequently put myself in some very awkward positions on the flop with marginal holdings because i refused to limp in position.
5)true.
6)false, something i picked up from cwar is that you can consider bluffing with any hand that isn't quite worth calling with. if the situation is right for a 3bet and i have an almost playable hand like K3s or Q7 i'll consider it.
7)this is a game theory optimal frequency but i don't think it's correct against most players. it's going to make money but players don't fold often enough on the river so no bluffing generally. remember river bluff=ban.
false
8)false, what if your remaining stack is half pot? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[jay_shark]

Good answers so far .

I like how you connected 5 with 7 . It shows you were paying attention [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[abcjnich]

1. too vague to answer
2.false- in fact I love players who do this against me. I might as well thank them for giving me a bigger pot in position.
3.true. you can smooth call with anything.
4.false. more limping the shorter the stacks.
5.false. is this even a question. there are definetely profitable times.
6.false. omgz a suuuitted connector!
7.false. against really good opponents who know game theory and who are good at reading hands then maybe true.
8.false.

[HokieGreg]

[ QUOTE ]
3.true. you can smooth call with anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

So you call oop with any two cards???

[soop]

Really interesting questions

To avoid having to say it depends all the time, my answers are gonna be for when I'm playing against a really good opponent. Or, in other words, these are what I'm guessing the game theory perfect answers are. Also, we're relatively deep stacked (say 50BB deep).

1) true - position is good

2) false - I have conflicting views on this one. You want to neutralize your pos disadvantage by getting the money in preflop if you can, but i feel like there are some hands that you want to call b/c of pot odds, but not turn into a bluff by raising (22 maybe).

3) true - you have to play sc oop sometimes to mix up your game

4) false - Even deep-stacked my suspicion is the optimal solution is to limp sometimes. I think you want to try to play as many hands in pos as possible for pot odds reason. Raising every hand from the sb is another possibility.

5) meh

6) false

7) true

8) true - in practice, basically all of my cbets are half pot, but I think I remember reading somewhere in the math of poker that making continuation bets larger was advantageous to the better, so i'm gonna go with that

[Vinetou]

Other guys answered those questions for SNG's, I will do it for cash games (so 100bb deep let's say).

1.true
2.false - hands like suited connectors I much prefer seeing a flop with because I am afraid of villain rererasing me. If I get the right flop, I can break him.
3.false - look 2.answer
4.it depends - some villains fight for big pots but give you the small ones. But generally, I prefer raising. Just a quote from Chris Ferguson I read somewhere: "If your opponent is limping on the button so you get a free look at the big blind and you are raising on the button, it means that you play bigger pots in position and smaller pots OOP." Read it yesterday - never thought of that before and is brilliant.
5.false - it should not become transparent for example when you miss a draw or something like that. I have a hard time not throwing out a bet.
6.false - look answer 2.and3. When 3bet bluffing, I prefer to have a total junk because I don't mind getting rereraised. However, to mix it up, I would do it sometimes with suited connectors. Plus, I find that people don't put a rereraise so often so it depends.
7.true
8.true

[Janis N.]

Good thread. Disclaimer - I'm not good HU (nor overall at poker).

[ QUOTE ]
1)Smooth call all of your opponents raises when you have a playable hand and position .

[/ QUOTE ]No, this doesn't allow you to build pot with your good hands. 3bet some good and marginal hands.

The core of the question is about calling 3bets IMHO - do you do that with all the range you continue with or do you 4bet some of your hands for value + as bluffs?

[ QUOTE ]
2)Re-raise or fold when you're oop.

[/ QUOTE ]No, this is probably not optimal, but hard to substantiate why I think so. Obviously there are opponents against whom it is true though.

The funny thing here is that some people play 6max deep stack cash blind defense that way and it's likely not a big leak there.

[ QUOTE ]
3)When facing a 3x raise oop , you may smooth call with offsuit/suited connectors .

[/ QUOTE ]No, that depends on stack sizes and opponent's PFR.

The core of the question IMHO is what odds you need to get to call OOP with a hand that's never that far behind an opponents range?

[ QUOTE ]
4) You should NEVER limp on the button .

[/ QUOTE ]Depending on opponent you should. Against an optimal opponent it's a similar question to 2).

Obv. if you limp you need to add a balanced limp-reraising strategy and it's just so much trouble that even the experts don't bother in deep stack cash.

Still my suspicion is that GT optimal strategy includes limping button even in deep-stack cash.

[ QUOTE ]
5) Bluffing on the river should be banned .

[/ QUOTE ]No, it's fine. I don't get why this question is here - is there a deeper meaning? That TAGfish (like me) don't bluff river enough?

[ QUOTE ]
6) The only trash hands you should bluff with preflop are the suited connectors .

[/ QUOTE ]No, hands like 22 play somewhat similar and could be added.

But obviously you bluff with "the best of your worst range" and it could be that SCs are that (could be that the best of SCs like JTs are too good for bluffing).

[ QUOTE ]
7) If you're giving your opponent 2:1 pot odds on the river , then your value hands to bluff hands should be in the ratio 2:1 .

[/ QUOTE ]Only against GT optimal opponents. The rest you exploit.

[ QUOTE ]
8)You should never make a half size pot bet on a drawy board .

[/ QUOTE ]This is a tough one. Maybe in situations where the draw is unlikely based on preflop action (e.g., 4bet pots?) it can be fine. Obv. if that's all you have left then you cannot bet more.

The deeper issue is that whenever you bet a half size pot in deep stack situation on drawy board you're probably losing some equity with your best hands.

Comments?

[jay_shark]

Great responses Janice ! I like your thought process .

1) This one is clearly false as you should never stick to one strategy 100% of the time . You may be more inclined to smooth call with more hands in position than oop , but it shouldn't deter you from re-raising . I would also mix it up by 3 betting with semi bluff hands which should be done sparingly .

2)I still believe that when you decide to play a hand , it's usually correct to raise or fold . Certainly if a player makes a mini raise , then you can call with suited connectors since it is better than folding , but is it better than raising ? hmmm ...

3) It does depend on stack sizes . Suited connectors and small pocket pairs play well in deep stack situations so it's not a bad strategy to smooth call oop with these hands .

4) It's almost always correct to raise or fold otb but some hands like 5-4 offsuit play better when you limp with them .Against aggressive players , it becomes correct to employ a raise or fold strategy .

5) You can bluff on the river but not that often . Depending on the flop texture and the flow of the hand , it may be necessary to bluff the river .

6) I thought your answer to part 6 was interesting . That you should bluff with the best hand from your lowest range . This is interesting and I once used to play this way until I realized the added benefit of deception when you can play ANY two cards for a profit . I personally think it's more dangerous if someone can bluff with hands like 7-2 suited once in a while , then a player who is pigeonholed to bluffing with the best hands from their lowest range .

7)Yup , this is why it's correct to occasionally bluff on the river . If your opponent folds often enough , it may be correct once in a while .

8)I usually like to make larger than half size bets on a scary board . I think something like three-quarters of the pot should suffice in accomplishing this goal of deterring most draws from playing .

[MasterLJ]

From a generalist perspective, HU is the one format of poker that is never about polarized T/F answers to common problems, that's what makes it one of the best formats.