Teaching Tommy: Episode 1

These are just some of the notes I jotted down while watching the video although there is a lot of very good stuff. This episode is definitely worth a re-watch when I go on a downer and need solid advice.

• Fish in the blinds means you can play a very wide range of hands even if the players behind you are loose. Until those loose players give you reason to tighten up, isolate and abuse the fish.

• Threads13 says that A3s is a good enough hand to call IP OTB vs a 21/17 CO open. I often just fold there, is that a leak? If these is a fish in the blinds, then calling is definitely profitable although I often fold all the same. Need someone to enlighten me on this matter. 25:00 A3s OTB, table 2.

• It is better to call with AK from the blinds then to 3-bet if our opponent's fv3b is high. Both plays are +EV but calling is likely to be more +EV. We make more money by keeping his dominated hands in and he value owns himself. A 3-bet will take it down often pre-flop but we could easily use a much weaker hand to do so. It is correct to start 3-betting AK when we know our opponent's calling range is wide.

• 3-betting from the blinds vs a UTG open. Threads13 does not 3-bet from the blinds much as it balancing is difficult to do and playing OOP versus a strong range is never fun.

• Always, always, always think in terms of equity: Pot Equity + Fold Equity. Make your decisions based on these two factors!

• As an extension of the post Pre-flop Raise Size IP vs Fish in Blinds, we should also make our 3-bet sizes bigger vs. fish when IP. Unless we feel the fish is adjusting their calling range by a lot based on our 3-bet size, a smaller 3-bet is leaving money on the table.

Bet Sizing When Firing Multiple Barrels

Anytime we are going to fire multiple barrels, we should bet bigger on the street before. We often times fire multiple barrels because we believe that we have a lot of fold equity or pot equity + fold equity. When we think we have a lot of fold equity, a bigger bet on the street before will allow us to win more when we get our opponent to fold on a later street. When we have a lot of pot equity + fold equity, a bigger bet will allow us to win more the times he folds on a future street or when we hit our draw. For example: Hero opens A2ss OTB and a fish calls in the BB. Flop comes 636r. What is our c-bet size? I often make it about half pot here but a bigger bet size is in order. A fish will often peel light on the flop with hands like KQ and Ax that will fold to a second barrel unimproved. We should bet bigger on the flop, 4-5, with the intention of taking him off his hand on the turn. We can bet bigger on the flop, and smaller on the turn as our bet sizing does not affect his calling range.

Delayed C-bets

When playing versus regulars, we often check back marginal made hands and make a delayed c-bet for various reasons. It is also important to mix in delayed c-bets with air. This will balance out our overall game and make our c-bets more profitable. Our flop c-bet range is now polarized but not overly weighted toward bluffs. On the turn, our delayed c-bets with air will show a greater profit because we can expect more folds when our opponent checks to us twice. They will often value bet the turn if they had a hand worth continuing. This is all opponent specific but as a general game plan, delayed c-bets should be a part of your game and remember to keep it balanced with air.

Pre-flop Raise Size IP vs Fish in Blinds

Make bigger pre-flop raises when IP versus a fish. Fish will not adjust their calling range. They will either play too straightforwardly and check/fold or make light call downs. Either way, its a win/win for us because a bigger pot size means a bigger mistake. Keep in mind that our hand is irrelevant for the most part. 

Example 1: Folds to Hero OTB with J5cc. There is a 43/14 fish in the BB. Hero's raise size? At least 3bbs, anything from 3.5x-5x is good. Of course you have to keep in mind stack sizes as well. 

Example 2: Hero has ATcc in CO and there is a target in the SB playing 35/22. The pre-flop raise size should be 3.5x-4x. The BTN is a 22/17 TAG but until he shows us that he is willing to make plays at us, we should isolate and play bigger pots with the fish as much as we can.

Make sure we stay consistent with the bigger raise size as this can be a big winrate boost!

I'm Still Here!

Don't worry for those of you who actually read this blog. I have not given up on this blog and will be posting again very soon. Reason I haven't been posting is because I have been playing more. I felt like I've put in a ton of time away from the table and it's time to get my hands wet with some experience at the tables. I'll have some new content within the next couple of days.

Coaching Kristy Episode 4

• Kristy sits down at a new table and immediately 3-bets 76hh OTB versus an unknown CO open. BW explains that if the CO is known to be a 4-bet or fold type of player then 3-betting 76hh would be good. Against an unknown at low stakes, we should assume that they tend to call too much which makes calling the open better than 3-betting.
• The BB cold calls Kristy's 3-bet and the CO folds. Flop comes 7s5h3d and the BB leads out $5 into a $11.65 pot. Kristy was lost on what to do in this spot and ended up calling the donkbet. BW explains that raising is better than calling here. Kristy almost always has 9 clean outs if she is not already ahead and she has a decent amount of fold equity versus better hands. Villain is not likely to put anymore money into the pot if he had a hand like AK or AQ that donked so raising will force him to fold his equity share. A raise will also sometimes force him to fold hands medium pocket pairs like 88 or 99 that he decided to donk/fold.
• MP raises to $1.75, folds to Hero in BB. Hero calls $1.25 with KhQs. Flop: Hero checks, MP bets $3, Hero raises to $8.50, MP calls $5.50. Turn: Hero? Board: Flop: 7s4h2h ($3.60) Turn: 9h ($19.75)
• This is a great spot to double barrel and maybe even triple barrel depending on the river card. The 9h improves our equity by giving us another 9 outs and we can credibly represent the turned flush. The river may be a good triple barrel depending on the villain's tendencies. If he is the type that will call the turn with JxJh or AhX and is likely to fold to a third barrel then fire away. Turn bet sizing does not need to be big since our value range is very strong on the turn so about half pot is enough.
• Hero raises UTG with AcAs to $1.75, MP raises to $6, folds to Hero, Hero calls $4.25. Flop: Hero checks, MP checks. Turn: Hero? Board: Flop: Qd2h7h ($12.15) Turn: Ad ($12.15)
• This is a mistake that I might be making too often. I will often times lead the turn once the flop checks through but the obvious play here is to check again. There are three types of hands the MP can have: weak showdown hand, air, monster. We maximize against air by checking the turn to allow the MP to bluff the turn by representing the Ad. Against his monsters, we will stack off by c/r'ing. The weak showdown portion of his range is difficult to extract value from regardless.

Polyphasic Sleep Schedule

Going to experiment with a polyphasic sleep schedule soon so I can have more time in a day. I will be starting the Everyman 2 nap with a total of 5 hours of sleep in a day. I read that the first 2 weeks are the hardest but after your body gets use to it, you'll have more energy and time. My goal is to spend the extra time I get on poker.


Heres a link for those who are interested: http://dustincurtis.com/sleep.html

Art of C-betting

A note about balanced ranges

• You should always balance your range in order to yield the highest rate of return for any given situation.
• Therefore you should not be taking any line 100% of the time and should constantly be adjusting when players make adjustments to you.

Heads Up in Position

• Board texture - how coordinated a flop is.
• Board texture is your primary consideration when deciding whether or not to c-bet. The more coordinated a board is the less likely you should c-bet without a good hand or one that has outs to improve.
• Coordination is really a misnomer. You should not just look at the board itself, but rather how the board connects with your opponents' range and the likelihood of him playing back at you.
• For example, you raise in the CO with QJo, the button calls and the blinds fold. The flop comes down 863 two clubs. If the button is very loose pre-flop but is relatively passive post-flop then a c-bet is correct. If the villain plays well and is likely to float or raise the flop then check/folding is correct.
• As a general guide line though, the less combination of hands that hit the flop the more often you should c-bet and vice versa.
• Think K22r as oppose to 987tt.

Checking Behind

• Hand strength is relative in poker.
• Sometimes it is better to give a free card that might cost you the hand in order to control the size of the pot.

Checking Behind Example

• You are playing 200nl with $200 stacks. You open AJcc to $7 in the CO and a good aggressive thinking player calls you in the BB. The flop is JdTh9h with $17 in the pot. 
• You very likely have the best hand and there are a lot of potential draws that could come on the turn.
• You should obviously bet to protect your hand right? WRONG!
• Often you will win the pot right there, but when raised, you are going to be in a very tough situation.
• On this board and in a large pot your hand is relatively weak.
• Either you are slightly ahead of his big draw or are way behind to an already made hand.
• Since his draws have good equity against your holding and his made hands have you crushed, your overall equity is very poor.
• With so much money left to bet, playing a big pot here is a bad idea.
• By far the best play on this flop is to simply check behind. Yes, occasionally the free card is going to cost you the SMALL pot.
• This is not a big mistake.
• Getting 100bb in the middle with poor equity is.

Stack Sizes

• Stack sizes are the key criteria.
• The shorter the stacks, the weaker the hands you can bet, vice versa for deeper stacks.
• With 20bb stacks, not betting the flop would indeed be a huge mistake.

Delayed C-betting

• Delayed c-betting is waiting till a later street to fire a continuation bet.
• This should be done when there is a strong likelihood of a check/raise, your opponent will interpret this for a marginal made hand and give up on the pot, you want to be deceptive with a draw, and or balance your checking behind range so that it is not one dimensional.

Dealing with Leads into the PFR

• We should call when the likelihood that our opponent is bluffing is high and our hand is strong enough to induce bluffs.
• We should also be calling to control the pot size.
• We should raise with hands that we want to build a big pot with, semi-bluffs, and with junk when we think that our opponents are weak.
• We should be folding on very coordinated boards when the likelihood of a bet/three bet is high or our fold equity is small.
• Again, board texture is paramount.
• We should also be folding against good players in spots where we do not have enough information to make accurate assumptions about their range.

Dealing with a Check/Raise

• We should be folding with most hands that do not have any value, unless we think the opponent is raising lightly and we are looking to re-bluff him later in the hand.
• We should be calling with a very wide range. It should include marginal hands, monsters, and sometimes even air.
• In my opinion, calling with a wide range of hands is the most effective way to adequately balance your flop range.
• We should be raising hands that we want to build a big pot with. This is mostly done against players who call too much and are weaker players in general. Do not get tricky against a calling station. Play your hands for value and let them make their favorite mistake: calling too much.
• We should also be raising against players who are check/raising very lightly and will fold their hand if raised.

Heads Up and Out of Position

• Since we are going to be giving up often on coordinated flops, we should sometimes be check/raising our strong draws, our made hands, and occasionally a bluff or two.
• Also, we can check/call our marginal made hands, which should induce bluffs from aggressive opponents.
• Lastly we have the weak lead
• This has two primary purposes
• To induce action with hands we want to play a big pot with.
• A cheap bluff that balances our action inducing with good hands.
• Dealing with a raise when you hold nothing.
• Folding is usually the best play however, re-buffing is a nice option.
• Board texture is paramount. When players raise innocuous board, they are representing a very narrow range and re-bluffing is sometimes best.

Multi-way and In and Out of Position

• Board texture, board texture, board texture.
• There are more hands involved so more boards are going to connect.
• As a general rule, you should be c-betting less with hands that have no value.
• Out of position you should be balancing your range with check/raises and check/calls as exemplified in other slides.

The Problems with a Polarized Range by Matthew Janda

http://www.cardrunners.com/article/110/the-problems-with-a-polarized-range/

The Problems with a Polarized Range

                A player polarizes his range when he raises all his very strong hands and some bluffs, and calls with all his medium strength hands. While the former range is very easy to play, the latter is extremely difficult to play against competent opponents who know their opponent has no strong hands in his range. Since good players will attempt to exploit their opponents using polarized ranges by over-betting to maximize their bluff frequency, you should attempt to avoid polarizing your ranges against opponents good enough to punish you for having no very strong hands in their range. 

                In order to best illustrate this concept, it’s best to start off with an extreme example of the difficulties you’ll face when you only have medium strength hands in your range. Suppose you are playing 6-max with 100 big blind stacks and under the gun opens for 3.5 big blinds and you are the only caller from the button. Your preflop range is JJ-22, KQs, JQs, JTs, T9s, 98s, AQ, AJs, and ATs, which you believe to be very close to a theoretically optimal flatting range and your opponent knows this. Suppose the flop comes 2h 2s 2d.

                Unfortunately, through no fault of your own, you received the worst possible flop for your range and your range contains no very strong hands. Raising this flop would make little sense, since your opponent knows he cannot be beat when he has JJ-AA, and has 28% equity against the top hand in your range with AK, AQ, and KQ. Instead you are forced to call or fold on the flop, and will frequently face turn and river bets and will often end up folding the best hand. Suppose you decide to flat JJ-77, AQ, and KQs. Once again, this is the same situation one finds himself in when he polarizes his range by only calling with medium strength hands.

                Your opponent will want to maximize his bluff frequency, and in order to do this he will bet equal fractions of the pot on all three streets. The pot will be 8.5bb on the flop, and in order to make the pot 201.5bb on the river your opponent must make the pot grow at the rate of “r” each street, where 8.5r³ = 201.5bb. Since r = 2.87, your opponent will want to be around 93% of the pot on each street (since his 93% pot sized bet and your call will make the pot grow at the desired rate). Since your opponent cannot recklessly fire all three streets, your opponent will have to give up bluffing some air hands on the turn and some air hands on the river. Let’s take a look at what frequency your opponent can be bluffing on every street before you can start calling with your medium strength hands profitably.   

Your opponent will want to make you indifferent to calling on the river, so 67.5% of his 93% pot sized bets on the river must be for value. An easy was to visualize why your opponent needs to be betting for value 67.5% of the time on the river when he makes a 93% pot sized bet is to imagine the pot is $100 on the river and your opponent makes a $93 bet. When you call your opponents bet and win, you’ll win both the original pot and his river bet for $193. When you call and lose, you’ll lose only $93 (the money you already lost in the pot is dead money). If you win $193 only 32.5% of the time and lose $93 the remaining 67.5% of the time when you call with your medium pocket pairs, you will be indifferent to calling  and folding since ($193 x 32.5%) - ($93 x 67.5%)  = 0.  Since calling is effectively the same thing as folding on the river and have an expected value of 0, in order to not be getting odds to call the turn your opponent must follow through on the river 67.5% of the time (because every time you face a river bet, calling and folding will both have an expected value of 0). The same logic applies on the flop, so in order to make you indifferent to calling the flop with JJ your opponent must follow through on the turn 67.5% of the time. In other words,

1)      On the river, 67.5% of your opponent’s bets must be for value.

2)      On the turn, 45.5% (0.675 x 0.675) of your opponent’s turn betting range must be able to value bet the river.

3)      On the flop, 30.7% of your opponent’s flop betting range (0.675 x 0.675 x 0.675) must be able to value bet the river.

Note how on each street our opponents range consists of more and more value hands and less bluffs, so the more betting rounds which remain the more your opponent can bluff. You can see how problematic this is to play against. While you will surely hit a six outer with AQ or spike a two outer with a pocket pair on some turns or rivers, your opponent will often do the same to you (especially since most of his bluffs have such high equity). It’s not particularly difficult for him to be able to value bet the river with 30.7% of the hands he continuation bets on the flop. Many players at NL$200 and lower think “Well, pocket fives have over 50% equity against an UTG’s continuation bet range on a 222 or 664 flop, and since I’m getting better than 2:1 this is an easy call.” Yet this is not the case. Even if your hand has a lot of equity against your opponents continuation betting range on the flop, too often you’ll be forced to fold it on the turn or river,  or end up making an unprofitable river call. There are some flops from certain positions you just cannot prevent your opponent from firing 100% of his range on. If you are lucky enough to hold 66 or TT on a 6c 6h Td flop in the small blind against a cutoff open, you need to check-call those hands to defend against your opponent who knows your range is weak and will likely be double and triple barreling many turns and rivers.

Now instead imagine another situation where the cutoff opens and you are the only caller from the button. The flop comes Qh 7s 2c, and once against your opponent continuation bets. Since this flop connects with your range around as well as his, your opponent will probably bet less than 90% of the pot and won’t be able to get it in by the river unless he overbets the turn or river.  In order to avoid the situation you were faced with in the previous example, you should refrain from polarizing your range and instead flat most of your sets on the flop. While AQ and KQ might be good hands to raise (along with some air) on the flop, it’s more useful to flat with your sets and raise them on the turn. This prevents your range from consisting only of hands QJ and worse and polarizing your range. In addition, sets don’t need fear falling behind when an overcard falls or your opponent drills two pair.

                Nevertheless, there are still situations when polarizing ones range is correct.  Two of the most common ones are when...

1)      Your opponent isn’t good enough to realize your range is polarized, or won’t punish you if he does.

2)      You are in position and the board has a lot of draws, so the vast majority of turns will put some nut type hands in your range as soon as the turn card hits.

For example, suppose the cutoff opens and you are the only caller from the button. The flop comes Ts 9s 5h, and the cutoff makes his standard sized continuation bet. Polarizing your range by raising all your two pairs, sets, monster draws, and air is perfectly acceptable in this case, because just about every turn card will put some nut type hands in your range. Any spade gives you a possible flush, any ten or nine brings possible trips, and any ace, king, queen, jack, or eight gives possible two pairs or straights. So 32 of the possible 49 cards which can turn, or about 2/3 the deck, will put nut type hands in your range and protect you from an opponent who wants to exploit polarized ranges by over-betting. Likewise, slow playing a set or two pair will often result in you either losing action or getting drawn out on many of the previously mentioned turn cards, making slow playing usually a bad idea.

                Recognizing when your opponents range is polarized provides a great way to increase your win rate.  If you do open from middle position and get a caller from the SB, don’t be afraid to bet large amounts on a very dry 955 flop (whether it’s rainbow or there are two of one suite), especially when your stack is a bit over 100 big blinds. You know your opponent can’t be strong unless he has 99 or 55, which only make up 4 hand combinations. Likewise, don’t be afraid to punish opponents when you know they can’t be strong after they check-call on a draw heavy board. if you know your opponent would never call with a hand better than KQ on a Qc Ts 6c 2s board on the turn (since he would likely check-raise AQ or better on the flop and the 2 on the turn doesn’t ever improve him), don’t be afraid to over-bet jam the river against an opponent as a bluff when the river comes a 3d. While you and your opponents will undoubtedly not play perfectly, realizing the theoretical problems polarized ranges have when facing over-bets will both allow you to better exploit your weaker opponents, and slowly gear your play style towards a more theoretically optimal style to use against opponents equally capable of exploiting you.

                Thanks for reading, and good luck at the tables.

By Matthew Janda

Flop Fundamentals Part 3

Playing OOP - Out of the Blinds

More often than not, you should be folding pre-flop OOP. We are playing without two major advantages when calling in the blinds and they are: Position and Initiative.

If you choose to continue:

1. Hands that hit many flops.
2. You have a bluffing plan.
3. You know your opponent's tendencies.
4. "High" implied odds.
5. Trapping hand.

To Bet or Check

Usually... Check! - This protects your "weak" checks.

• Lead out IF...
1. More +EV bluff.
2. Passive opponents.
3. Bad c-bet board.
4. Set up a 3-bet.

Check/Call or Check/Raise

• Consider the following:
1. Your whole range.
2. Do we want to re-open the betting?
3. Can you make good turn decisions?
4. Always keep in mind: opponent predictability, scare cards, hidden draws.

Review of Rumberts 50nl Video

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6zTaJoCjG8NMmQ1N2Q2NzYtYjczNy00ZTEyLWI0NzAtMjk2OTJjZmU5N2Jl&hl=en&authkey=CMCo6_wK


1:00, table 2: Vil donks 25%, c/r 37%, and fvcb 52%. His db and c/r are both insanely high yet his fvcb is only 52% which means he is either someone who floats OOP with air or his db and c/r range are both insanely weak. My guess is that his db range is weak so I would raise the flop with the intention of getting stacks in. Raise bigger, you don't need to do any sort of balancing against this fish. A bigger raise OTF will allow you to bet/call the turn and win more when he calls flop and c/f turn. You should be double barreling that J imo, you have too much equity and a decent amount of fold equity.


3:55, table 3: I like the check there. I'm not so much worried about the 20/16 regular as I am of the fish. The regular would have raised most of his strong Jx hands pre-flop and raise the flop with strong hands like sets and two pair. The fish on the other hand can have very many combos of Jx which outweight the combo of draws. 


7:45, table 2: BB has a very low 3-bet percentage in the blinds vs steal which most likely means that he 3-bets for value. If we don't think the fish will come along then I much prefer a 4-bet to calling. I'm not sure about your 4-bet sizing though. I think I rather min4b him to 16 or so. A smaller 4-bet gives villain room to play back at us but more importantly, it is easier to balance if we ever decide to 4-bet bluff. If he folds, that just means we can min4b bluff profitably in the future.


10:10, table 3: The BB looks to be a fish playing 36/7. I don't steal there too often since SCs thrive on FE that you might not have, especially OOP. If the BB folds to Cb's a lot, I prefer a bigger pre-flop raise from the SB to 4x. You will get slightly more folds pre which is fine and you make more post-flop when he folds to your c-bet. You're pre-flop raising range there should be pretty strong as well so a bigger raise size is also for value for the times you actually have a strong hand.


19:35, table 1: I'm not sure I like a bet here. I don't think most regs are looking to c/f in this spot. When they check, it's usually to c/c. The only hand we are getting to fold that is ahead of us is AK. Most of his pair type hands won't fold and we are ahead of his air.

Everyone from the group feel free to post your own analysis in the comments section. We can do some discussion there as well.

The Thin Red Line Episode 2

GC set out to play very loose and aggressive in this video. This isn't his typical style of play but he wanted to get into some interesting spots and show his note taking/hand reading thought process. Take what you will away from the HHs below but some spots are far from standard.

• Minraise against pro SS's because they only push fold. minraise gives us more leverage and better risk to reward.
• BvB, a 3x raise shows an instant profit if villain plays less than 40% of his hands in the BB.
• When someone bets the same size on the turn as they did on the flop, it means the turn card did not help or change their hand in any way.
• Tight players tend to be bad post-flop because they don't get into very many spots.

100NL 6m - CO limps, Hero raises to $4.50 OTB with 4c4s, CO calls $3.50.

• Flop: 4h2sTd ($10)
• CO checks, Hero bets $10, CO raises to $20, Hero raises AI to $114.30, CO folds.
• The CO limper is most likely a fish and the bet size on the flop is irrelevant. He either calls or folds here so a bigger bet is better. When he c/mr the flop, he usually has a Tx hand that most likely won't fold. Shoving here maximizes against that range because overcards could slow down or kill the action.
• note: c/mr T42r folded to jam
• GC from thread: If fish want to find out where they're at with a hand less than top pair, they usually donkbet. The other line they take is c/c. c/mr is usually top pair+ or air in my experience, and they never fold top pair. But both raise sizes are pretty equal in EV I think. I might get him to continue with a slightly wider range maybe by raising small, but I'll also miss some action if an ace rolls off or something on the turn then.

100NL 6m - SB fish raises to $2, Hero raises to $8 in SB with 9d9s, SB calls $6.

• Flop: 9c3c8d ($15.20)
• SB checks, Hero bets $16, SB raises AI to $94.35, Hero calls $78.95. SB shows T8hh.
• This is the same fish from the hand above who made a c/mr and folded to a jam. This might be a better board to slowplay because it is very unlikely for the fish to have TP here but there are more draws so betting here is best. GC bet pot because villain is very unlikely to fold any hand that hits this board. I like the way GC fastplay his hands vs the fish. I take lines that are too standard against fish when it is more +EV to exploit their willingness to call or stack off light. 

100NL 6m - Hero in SB with Jc2d raises to $3, BB reg calls $2.

• Flop: 7h2c8h ($5.70)
• Hero checks, BB bets $5, Hero calls $5.
• Turn: Qh ($15.20)
• Hero checks, BB bets $11, Hero calls $11.
• River: 3d ($36.10)
• Hero checks, BB bets $18, Hero calls $18. BB shows Qs9d.
• This is a pretty interesting hand. GC's thought process: When he doesn't Cb there, it looks like he is going to c/f. The BB is a regular so he will most likely stab with his entire range. If GC Cb's there, he will fold out all of BB's air and get raised by draws and some air. OTT, GC felt that the villain is most likely incapable of value betting thinly so with the overcard and flush out, he is either bluffing or value betting a Qx. OTR, same reasoning as turn. He either has Qx or bluff, if he value bets a strong 8x, then hes probably pretty good. 
• note: bets large when wants a fold, smaller for value?
• Q from thread: J2o - would c/f be too weak in this spot? I typically like to c/c marginal made hands on (ultra)draw-heavy flops and thought J2 here was worse than marginal. And we don't know much about villain's postflop tendencies yet.
• A from GC: Why would you c/f with a pair in BvB? If you're gonna c/f you should just cbet. I check to let him bluff because when I check I look like air that's giving up. And as you see it worked.
• Q from thread: Isn't it much better to c/r this type of hand since if he is cbetting his entire range the least amount of outs he has is 6 and a lot of turncards will force you to c/f..
• A from GC: But I'm not planning to c/f alot of turn cards. If anything a bad card will make him more likely to bluff. By check-raising I just get called by all his pairs, open myself up to draw re-raises, etc. Yeah I (likely) fold out air but then I might as well checkraise this board with all my air myself. I'd rather checkraise for value/(semi)bluff and cbet or c/c with mere showdown value. Yes, it will put me in harder spots and checkraising makes the hand easier to play, but you shouldn't take a lower EV line just because it's easier if you're capable of handling the harder spots. If a flop c/c will put you in a spot where you don't really know what you're doing and you might make mistakes, then don't do it.
• Comment from thread: I really dont agree with this, the worst part oh his range has like 6 outs, and i just think you have to little equity to c/c this. without betting initiative and being oop this cant be +ev... imo 
• Reply from GC: Well, c/f is a horrible line, and c/r is not good for reasons I already posted. So it's a c/c or a cbet. If I cbet I put in 1 bet. If I c/c I also put in 1 bet. So the same amount of money goes in. But when I cbet, he'll continue with a tighter range than when I check. So I put in an equal amount of money, but I get more value. It also takes away his ability to (semi)bluffraise me. c/c just results in harder turn/river spots, but I think I'm equipped to handle them. If I wasn't, c/c would be bad. Harder doesn't mean lower EV.
• Comment from thread: Yeah, I thought this as well. C/c makes this a guessing game vs a random player who we can only assume is a regular at this point. We can't call turn or river either imo because he doesn't know much of us and is unlikely to barrel total air with such a betsize, and any air he is barreling most likely has a broadway heart in it, which has a lot of equity against us.
• Reply from GC: If you think he's gonna bet a lot of turns (and rivers) and it's just too much heat for us to continue with, then you should c/c with overpairs etc here, or with draws to c/r the turn because you get tons of value/dead money that way.
• And just because a certain line makes the hand harder to play doesn't mean it has a lower EV. Sometimes the hardest line has a higher EV. The better you get at poker, the less you'll be guessing on the later streets. You only find the spot hard because you're not used to it and you're playing against a wide range instead of a well defined range. I suggest you try playing some HU because there every hand you'll be playing against a wide range and essentially playing a guessinggame, even against fish. Yet it's possible to have a winrate at HU despite these properties. If you really want easy decisions, stop playing 6max and go play FR, or even "better", SNGs.
• I think I would not capable of playing the hand in this way or at least play it well enough to make it +EV, but the points I highlighted are invaluable. Easy does not equal most +EV. The best players are the ones that take lines that are non-standard just as GC did. It my not always be correct, but using good logic and having the courage to try will make you a better player. GC gave plenty of good reasons for his line in the hand above and I'll take it for what it's worth.

100NL 6m - Hero raise to $3 with Ad9c UTG, BB fish calls $2.

• Flop: 5h5sKd ($6.20)
• BB checks, Hero checks.
• GC checks back the turn because the board is very dry and his hand has SD value. The check is meant to induce action on the turn from the fish.
• Turn: 3s ($6.20)
• BB bets $6.50, Hero calls $6.50.
• River: 9d ($18.55)
• BB bets $19.50, Hero calls $19.50. BB shows Ks8h.
• GC would have called whether he hit the 9 or not. 
• note: loose, pot bets for value

100NL 6m - Hero raises to $3 with 74hh in MP ($250), CO nit ($225) calls $3, BTN nit calls $3.

• Flop: 3c5d6c ($10)
• Hero checks, CO bets $9, BTN folds, Hero raises to $36, CO raises AI to $223.35, Hero calls $187.35. CO shows 4c4s.
• I love the line GC took in this hand. The two nits in CO and BTN have tight ranges and a lot of it are going to be pocket pairs or overpairs that will stab. The nits 3b shove is good if he has a read that GC is c/r'ing a lot of draws there, otherwise it is bad.
• note: jammed 44 200bbs deep over PFR c/r on 653tt (i had nuts)

100NL 6m - MP unknown raises to $4, CO regish calls $4, Hero in SB calls $3.50 with 3s3c.

• Flop: 3h9cTc ($12.35)
• Hero checks, MP bets $8, CO calls $8, Hero raises AI to $452.05 (~110bb eff stacks)
• GC's plan was the c/r the flop with his bottom set but I feel like leading might be more profitable. He decided to c/rai instead of making a more standard c/r size because it looks more like a bluff which most likely means that he is just targeting the MP opener's overpair range. 

Notes GC took (how I would improve it):

• limpcalled UTG and called 1 barrel on K72tt 
• Lc UTG and called Cb on K72tt, c/f T
• overbet jam draws 
• db overbet jam draws: K8 on 675r (29-6), 33bbs eff
• small c/r on 884tt, bomb flush turn BB v BU 
• small c/r on 884tt, bomb FL T, BB v BU
• fish with SS. didn't stab postflop w gutshot/oe/air @ triple check. 
• fish SS. didn't stab IP w gs/oesd/air vs triple chk
• the "/" separates the streets, first one is flop and so on.
• we can probably gather that the SS fish is passive from the note above.
• plays draws passively on A high board, didn't bluff river when missed 
• plays draw passively on Ahi board, didn't bluff R IP when missed. call/call/chk w KQs on A8Ts-A-x
• limps QQ, check twice on Qxxx, raise river on 4 straight 
• limps QQ, chk F and T on Qxxx, raise river on 4ST
• call 3b OOP and donk 9 (half) twice on Axxx fold to turn jam 
• call 3b OOP, db 1/2p on F, same size on T and fold to jam on Axxx
• potc/r'd flop w monsterdraw on T9x
• same
• c/mr TP on dry board, 40% pot turn, check trips on river
• c/mr TP on dry board, 40% psb T, chk trips on R
• checked back TP vs missed turn cbet, bet 2 into 14 with top 2 on riv
• chk'd back TP IP vs missed Tb, bet 2-14 w top 2 on R
• stabbed ~pot when he wanted folds
• same
• ~pot size as standard size?
• ~psb = standard?
• c/f 943r in BvB 
• bvb, c/f 943r as pfr
• checks the scare card when he hits it 
• chked the scare card when he hit it in 3b pot OOP
• bvb raise cbet on QT4tt, bet smallish again on J turn
• bvb, raise Cb on QT4tt, bet smallish again on J T
• checked A2s CO v BU on K42, bet bit less than half turn and bit more than half w trips river 
• no Cb w A2s CO v BU on K42tt-Jt-2, bet T (4-8.50), bet R (9-16.50) w trips
• call UTG raise and squeeze from SB, c/mr bluff AQx
• call UTGo and sqz from SB, c/mr bluff AQx