Full Ring Theory and Practice, Part 2

Theory:

• What makes betting, raising, calling and checking profitable?
• Playing a hand against a range versus playing a range against a range.

Betting/Raising

• There are three reasons to bet or raise:
• For value
• As a bluff
• To pick up dead money against hands with non-trivial equity
• Whenever we are debating the merits of a bet or raise, we must consider our opponent's continuance range relative to his entire range. We can often manipulate our opponent's continuance range through bet sizing.
• We want to use the information available to us at any given time to make the most profitable decision possible - not bet in order to obtain additional information.

Calling

• There are four main reasons to call a bet:
• Our hand is ahead of our opponent's range. You could refer to this as a "value call"
• Our hand has sufficient implied odds to extract enough value on later streets should we improve.
• Our hand is behind our opponent's range, but good enough of the time for a call to show a profit given the pot odds we are being offered. Especially applicable on the river.
• To "float": calling a bet because we believe we will be able to bluff a later street profitably enough of the time.
• The expected value of our calls must always be weighed against that of us raising. Just because a call is profitable does not mean a raise will not be more so, and vice versa.
• If we are unable to call or raise profitably when facing a bet, that is what the fold button is for!

Checking

• When we check and are not closing the action, it is because we are intending to:
• Check/Raise - for any of the reasons that raising is profitable.
• Check/Call - for any of the reasons that make calling profitable.
• Check/Fold - if we cannot do either of the above profitably, we should check/fold.
• The expectations of check/raising and check/calling should be weighed against each other, and also compared with that of betting. Fairly frequently all three will be profitable, but one will have a significantly higher return.
• When we are closing the action, the expectation of checking behind should  be compared with that of betting. Even if betting is profitable, checking behind may have a higher expectation in some situations.

Good Float

• Our opponent, running 14/10 with a flop c-bet of 80% opens in MP1. We call from the CO with AhQs.
• The flop comes 3h5hTs, and our opponent c-bets 2/3 pot.
• Factors that make this a good spot to float:
• Our opponent's range has a reasonable amount of air and his c-bet stat suggests he frequently c-bets his air.
• Having the Ah acts as a blocker to our opponent having many combinations of flush draws which he is likely to be continuing with on the turn should we float the flop, while also giving us additional equity.
• Having two overcards, we will often have three to six outs should our opponent c/c our turn bet on a blank.

Bad Float

• Our opponent, running a positionally aware 13/9 with a flop c-bet of 50% opens UTG. A weaker player calls from middle position and we call from the BTN with 6d6s,
• The flop comes JhTh8d, and our opponent c-bets 90% of the pot. The weaker player folds.
• Factors that make this a bad spot to float:
• Our opponent has a strong UTG range.
• Based on his c-bet stat, it is unlikely our opponent will be betting his air multi-way on an extremely wet board. His bet sizing supports this.
• Our hand has very little chance to improve if we are checked to on the turn and our bluff is called.

Hand vs Range or Range vs Range?

• When playing against an opponent who is not thinking about our range or that we expect to never develop any history with, we need only play our hand against his range.
• When playing against an opponent who is thinking about our range, we should be attempting to play our range optimally against his range. Otherwise, we will inevitably develop tendencies which are trivially exploitable to a thinking player that is paying attention.
• By playing a range against a range well, we may sometimes sacrifice expected value with some parts of our range in order to gain a larger amount with others.

My Thoughts:

Definitely a video I would re-watch as the information is presented in a very clear and precise manner. The first 15 minutes of the video touches on basic theories but the explanations are top notch. Beginning and intermediate players could benefit from watching and re-watching that part to refresh their memory, especially when running or playing bad. The rest of the video is made up of HH review, live play, and a quick HEM stats review.

I very much like RonFar3's style of play and wish to emulate it. He puts a lot of thought into his decisions and goes through/compare all his options to choose the one that is MOST +EV. As a result, his style of play lends itself to more checking and less c-betting compared to other winning players. 

I feel that most people, myself included, overuse the c-bet as a standard strategy but fail to consider all their options. I need to seriously take a serious look at my game and see if I can improve in that aspect.

A Little R&R, Part 1

• One mistake that people make way too often is looking at the absolute strength of their hand rather than the relative strength versus their opponents' continuation range. An example would be c-betting 55 on J93r. The most common logic for c-betting is "I most likely have the best hand", but they fail to realize that when called, they usually only have two outs. This is especially true when playing OOP. If your opponent has as little as a gut-shot, he is likely to float you then take it away on the turn.
• Don't c-bet indiscriminately, especially when OOP. Whether you c-bet 80%, 60% or 40%, use the hands with the most equity or backdoor barreling potential.  
• Example: On flop of Jh9s3d
• 55 has ~8.8% versus Jx or 9x
• 56hh has ~10.7% versus Jx or 9x
• Although the equity difference seems small, over the long run it makes a significant difference. More important than the equity difference is the ability to turn backdoor draws with a hand like 56hh. The turned equity allows you to make more intelligent double barrels. Because of the increase pot equity, you need less fold equity and it can set up good triple barrel spots.

Continuation Betting In Position

• Against a fish, limp/call type
• Range assessment. You always want to be thinking about what kind of hands they are playing. This goes for all players, not just the fish.
• What are you attempting to accomplish?
• Checking back?
• How much equity can he realize?
• Can you induce bluffs or let him improve to a worse hand?
• WA/WB.
• An example would be 99 on J23r. This is a spot where your opponent often times only has 6 outs or less against you. You are either WA/WB and may be better off checking the flop to induce more action on the turn. The board texture is such that your opponent rarely has much of a hand. You are unlikely to get 3 streets of value but checking back could get you 2 streets of solid value.
• Betting?
• For value.
• Does he have decent equity?
• Will he fold better?
• Against a competent regular
• Things to remember:
• Calling range is stronger.
• Villain is reading hands.
• Less likely to randomly spew.
• Regulars aren't going to play draws out of position passively.
• These are generalizations; They are capable of adjusting to you.
• Always consider how you will react to a raise before it happens.
• How does this affect us?
• It becomes more difficult to c-bet medium equity-share hands because a good regular will raise us off the best hand more often or deny us the chance to realize our equity.
• More important to use your positional advantage.
• Take free cards
• Pot controlling
• Delayed c-bets

• When deciding on whether to double barrel or not, your perceived range, opponent's level of thinking and style of play are important considerations. There is some leveling involved and figuring out what level your opponent is thinking on is your job. On a dry board with a blank turn, some opponents might give you no credit since you represent a very narrow range and others may give you a lot of credit because they know you know the turn is not good for barreling. 
• Looking at stats like WTSD and W$SD might give me an idea of how likely they call down.
• Remove the random c-betting and double barreling from your range and choose to bet with hands that have the most equity or can turn a lot of equity. This will make your bets more calculated and effective. 
• When double and triple barreling, try to do so when there aren't a lot of obvious missed draws. You might get looked up lighter. Conversely, double and triple barreling for value on boards with missed draws might be very effective. 
• Have a plan!

Hand examples:

100NL FR - Folds to Hero in SB with 4s4c. Hero raises $3, BB (17/12/3bet % of 16) calls $3. Flop: Hero bets $4, BB calls $4. Turn: Hero bets $9.50, BB calls $9.50. River: Hero bets $30, BB calls $30. BB shows K3ss.

Board: Flop: AcKdQh ($6) Turn: 2d ($14) River: 8s ($30)

• The example above is of one where c-betting and barreling is probably not the best play. This is still somewhat villain dependent and against some that have a tendency to fold, it is OK. Hero's plan was to barrel this board because he felt that the BB rarely has a strong hand here given his high 3-bet %. On the flip side, 44 is on the bottom end of his c-bet and barrel range equity wise versus the villain's continuation range. Hero forced the c-bet and double/triple barrel when he could have done the same when he has more equity. 
• After seeing the Hero showdown 44, the villain can probably gather that the Hero is c-betting and barreling way too often. 44 is the bottom of his range equity-wise versus villain's continuation range.

1000NL FR - Folds to SB who raises to $30 with A5dd, Hero in BB calls $30 with A3hh. Flop: SB checks, Hero checks. Turn: SB checks, Hero checks. River: SB checks, Hero checks.

Board: Flop: Qs8d4c ($60) Turn: 9h ($30) River: 7c ($30)

• The player of focus of this hand is the SB. He should have c-bet on the flop because his hand had about 18% equity even against TP. He can turn a lot of backdoor equity with diamonds and gut-shots that will allow him to continue barreling. Although Ace high does have some showdown value, he will often fail to realize it against a good opponent.