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In the last episode of this series we discussed how to maximize our EV on small and middle pocket pairs in loose passive games.  Now, let’s take a look at how these hands play in other types of games.

Tight-Passive(Weak-Tight) Games

These games feature players who understand that they need to play tight in order to profit, but they don’t have much bite to their game. The players in these games often do a lot of “set-mining” and thus very easy to read. They will very often limp into a pot, call a “standard” raise, and then check-fold the flop if they don’t spike their set. Obviously, since these players are so predictable it is easy to take advantage of them. Remember, we make money in poker when plays make mistakes.  Look for your mistakes that opponents will make and then do whatever you can to make that mistake occur more often and for it to be more costly.  The biggest mistake weak-tight players make is that they fold too often – even when they are in position. They will very rarely put you in a difficult spot or punish you for getting out of line when you are out of position. In my experience, you can often find these types of games a couple levels up from the smallest stakes offered at a given location¹ (more…)

1. For example, you currently might start finding these players in the $.25/.50 and $.50/1 online games. [↩]

Deciding whether or not to raise medium and small pocket pairs is a frequently discussed topic among poker players.  The hands are flexible holdings that can get value from several different avenues.  In this series of articles we are going to discuss what factors we should be considering and what adjustments to make in different games and with different stack sizes.

Hands generally derive their value from some combination of winning without a showdown and having the best hand at showdown. Some hands generally derive most of their value from winning before showdown and others they derive it from making the best hand and winning in a showdown.  Pocket pairs are flexible holdings that can make money both ways.  Try to predict the most likely scenarios that will come up postflop, and how you can make your opponents make mistakes. Figure out which mistakes your opponents are most likely to make.  Your preflop strategy with these hands should be tailored to exploit the mistakes they are most likely to make.¹ (more…)

1. The correct strategy is dependent on the size of the stacks.  This article will strictly look at 100 big blind effective stacks. [↩]

We have been going through a play-along with KTo out of position against an unknown player. If you are new to this page you can find all the previous posts below.

• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 1: Preflop
• *My thoughts* on $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 1: The flop
• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 2: The Flop
• *My thoughts* $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 2: The Flop
• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 3: The Turn
• *My thoughts* $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 3: The Turn
• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 4: The River

Here is what we have had have so far:

The game is $.25/.50 N0-Limit Hold ‘Em on Full Tilt poker. Most of the players there are pretty straightforward. Typically, you will have one or two tight and aggressive players who are decent players and a couple plays that are loos, and then the rest will fall in varying colors in between.

The effective stacks are 100BB. One player limps on the button, the small blind completes, you look down to see:

K♦T♠

I decided to check. The pot has 3BB in it and we have an SPR of ~33. The flop comes:

A♠J♣4♥

I made a bet of 2/3’s of the pot(2BB) and got called by only the button. The pot is now about 6BB(I subtracted the rake).

 

The turn card was the 5 of spades. The board is now:

A♠J♣4♥5♠

I decided to bet out about half the pot(4bb), figuring that I could get many hands to fold here often enough to make it worth my effort (and I had river plan in mind). He called my bet so we went to the river with 13BB in the pot(I subtracted the rake) and you have 93BB behind. The river is:

 

4♣

 

Giving us a final board of:

A♠J♣4♥5♠4♣

First off, let’s talk about our opponent’s range. He has called on the flop and on the turn on a relatively dry board. That is telling me right away that he probably has a pair. There aren’t many draws that he can call twice with besides gutshots¹. I think his range is something like a mediocre or weak ace, a pair of jacks, a medium or small pair, some junk or busted draw, or maybe a monster². (more…)

1. He probably shouldn’t and won’t be calling twice with this, so this is a small part of his range. [↩]
2. Junk and monsters are both heavily discounted. [↩]

We have been going through a play-along with KTo out of position against an unknown player. If you are new to this page you can find all the previous posts below.

• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 1: Preflop
• *My thoughts* on $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 1: The flop
• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 2: The Flop
• *My thoughts* $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 2: The Flop
• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 3: The Turn
• *My thoughts* $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 3: The Turn

Moving right along, let’s get to the river card.

The game is $.25/.50 N0-Limit Hold ‘Em on Full Tilt poker. Most of the players there are pretty straightforward. Typically, you will have one or two tight and aggressive players who are decent players and a couple plays that are loos, and then the rest will fall in varying colors in between.

The effective stacks are 100BB. One player limps on the button, the small blind completes, you look down to see:

K♦T♠

I decided to check. The pot has 3BB in it and we have an SPR of ~33. The flop comes:

A♠J♣4♥

I made a bet of 2/3’s of the pot(2BB) and got called by only the button. The pot is now about 6BB(I subtracted the rake).

 

The turn card was the 5 of spades. The board is now:

A♠J♣4♥5♠

I decided to bet out about half the pot(4bb), figuring that I could get many hands to fold here often enough to make it worth my effort (and I had river plan in mind). He called my bet so we went to the river with 13BB in the pot(I subtracted the rake) and you have 93BB behind. The river is:

 

4♣

 

Giving us a final board of:

A♠J♣4♥5♠4♣

 

What is your play here? What range do you give our opponent?

Check out all of the discussion on the play of the turn here.

In case you are new to the site, here are the previous posts involving this thread:

• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 1: Preflop
• *My thoughts* on $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 1: The flop
• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 2: The Flop
• *My thoughts* $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 2: The Flop
• $.25/.50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em play-along with KTo, Part 3: The Turn

Moving right along, let’s get the turn card on the board and get everyone up to date.

The game is $.25/.50 N0-Limit Hold ‘Em on Full Tilt poker. Most of the players there are pretty straightforward. Typically, you will have one or two tight and aggressive players who are decent players and a couple plays that are loos, and then the rest will fall in varying colors in between.The effective stacks are 100BB. One player limps on the button, the small blind completes, you look down to see:

 

K♦T♠

I decided to check. The pot has 3BB in it and we have an SPR of ~33. The flop comes:

A♠J♣4♥

I made a bet of 2/3’s of the pot(2BB) and got called by only the button.

 

The turn card was the 5 of spades. The board is now:

A♠J♣4♥5♠

 

What is your play now? What range do you give the button?

I think the button likely has a pair at this point. A’s certainly seem like the most likely hand, but hands like QJ/JT are certainly in his range, as are a ton of medium and small PP’s. I do discount a pair of Aces (or better) a little bit here as I think he would have raised the flop with a lot of those hands. We probably don’t have the best hand here so for a bet to be correct we have to expect him to fold some better hands. I think the best way to analyze this hand is to break his range down into subdivisions that he will play similarly and go from there. (more…)