I want to add a little extra context to something: Gary mentions that he knows some very good live players who min-raise in early position. But those guys don't play $1/$2 or $2/$5. It's very rare that a min-raise is the best option in those lower stakes games. However, raising smaller from early position and bigger from late is a good idea. Min-raise is just too small (imagine raising to $4 at $1/$2 lol).
@robert2375 it depends how many limpers. If there's 4 or 5, you need to only pick hands that flop well multiway. Since you're only calling half a BB, you can usually justify it with the offsuit connectors (like 76o) and any somewhat decent suited hand (like 96s). Fold anything worse. With only 1 or 2 limpers, you can get in there with some high card gappers like K9o/Q8o too. Those hands do somewhat *okay* 3 or 4 ways but are pretty terrible 5/6 ways. Definitely not any two. You may be getting great odds, but you still wanna set yourself up for success postflop. Having too many junky hands OOP vs many players is not a winning situation.
Just got into the lab and got through your moving on from the 4 categories module. Feels like I'm completely relearning the game from the ground up. Thank you for the awesome content and I hope it turns around for you on the felt!
6:45 - I've noticed this a lot on Bart Hanson's call-in show. People will open a hand to a particular number of big blinds and defend the open by observing, "that's the standard open at our table." I think that is a very good reason NOT to use that open size, because it is what people are used to, and what they're using to construct their ranges. You're going to take them off their game by using a different size, and force them to adjust their strategy, and open up the door to them making mistakes.
In loose splashy games your main value hands are AJo+ and KQo+, pocket pairs, and suited aces. I tend to play some suited broadways too, but that's mainly to stave off boredom. Not much use in playing suited connectors when you have such little fold equity, though if the players are passive enough you can limp with them and try to hit 2-pair or better. But keep in mind that the moment an ace hits the table, your crappy 87s two pair is probably losing to some A6o junk because that's just what happens when 9 players see the flop.
Excellent video @Mike Brady and @Gary Blackwood! To add to this great list, the live poker population tends to severely underbluff and to massively overcall. The natural (in a vacuum) adjustment is overfolding and relentless (thin) vbetting like mentioned in the video. On the overfolding side, this includes folding several playable hands preflop, under-defending versus 3bets and making tight river folds (caveat: there are of course exception to this. Poker is not easy). Incidentally, for anyone new to this: This is much easier said than done. Extreme patience, temperament and self-control to potentially deviate from lines you would typically take against better competition are (underrated) skills that need cultivating like everything else in poker. In fact these skills are so important, I would argue that An ABC but consistent reg will always outperform a talented but impatient/fancy/"creative" player in the long run. Good luck to you all!
The last point is probably the one I struggle with the most. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve folded the best hand because the action (bet, call, call or bet, raise, call) would seem to indicate strong hands but they’re just not. Or rather, not what I would consider a strong hand. You really have to call down pretty lightly in these games vs super wide ranges where opponents think any top pair is the nuts.
Excellent episode, great advice for the only game in town where I am at present. I’d add, getting in the right mindset before sitting down is vital, as lots, and I means lots, of unexpected things will still happen.
Thank you so much for this episode! I play at The Lodge, and it's extremely splashy at $1/$2. I'm trying to grind my way up, but I've been unable to figure out how to play effectively at The Lodge.
I don’t play at the lodge but I play a lot of super splashy deeply 1/2 1/3 with match the stack. Here’s how I crush it: keep your rfi sizing the same-somewhere between $6-$8. Overfold the bottom of your range to a 3 bet, and 4 bet more frequently. What I find is a lot of players will tell you exactly what they have when they 3 bet you. They’re not thinking your range is UTG and that’s just a standard raise size… they see $6 and think (weak raise, weak hand) therefore I’m gonna 3bet this KTo, Axo. When coming into a pot with 3-4 players, raise big when you choose to enter. I typically go 2.5-3x of what’s in the whole pot. Say I’m sitting in the cutoff with AJo and UTG opened to $15, and LJ and MP called- we’re going to $80-$115 for value. However, we’re folding hands like J9o, Q8o even though we have enough equity 5 way to get it.
It’s very loose. 4th time ever playing live was at the lodge and the 1/2/5 PLO was playing like a 5/10…was out of my depth on the bomb pot situation and got stacked for a buyin.
Good content..... another trait of these games is that players don't 3-bet enough, particularly from the blinds, so you can widen your opening range on the few times it is folded to you in late position.
Most of this is good info. Just mind your head if you already have most of this stuff down. The other day at 1/3, which I beat for around 20bbs per hour, I had one premium hand for 3 hours(if you call KQs a premium), won 1 small pot, and was down 100$. I knew I had to leave in the next 10 minutes, so I was desperate to make something happen. I raise a limper in MP with T8s, get another caller, and proceed to bluff/blast away another 300$ when I had showdown value. Yikes. Tilt is real...let the other players tilt, not you. It may not always be possible if you travel, but keep your sessions short if you notice loss of interest or tilt.
Guys @mike and @gazza... One thing I really struggle with is knowing when we make a hand on river, straight, flush, two-pair OOP when we should lead or check raise... I've heard Doug say "I check whole range on this card (say flush completing) - when do we want to blast river (polarized), block, or check raise (assume also polarized) - I'd be grateful for an episode
I definitely have been using your tip about playing differently when the good players are in vs. when they are already out of a hand. I've taken it a step further, too, exploiting what the good players *know* about me. I was pretty sure that this one particular good player had observed that I altered my bet sizing based on the quality of my hand, as you suggest, but I didn't think he realized that I never did it against him. So the freakish occurrence happened and a hand was down to just him and me, the splashers having hands so bad that they actually folded. I had raised preflop with a AQ and he (button) was my only caller. Flop was a T74 rainbow which I normally would have c-bet 1/3ish pot in a tough game against a single opponent. However, in this game I had not been c-betting much (it usually being 5 to the flop), and had been betting larger with my strong hands and smaller with my OK, but not great hands and strong draws. So I bet fairly big, as if I had an overpair. He showed ATs with backdoor flush possibility and mucked it, saying he *knew* I had kings or queens. I just said, 'good read' and stacked the chips.
With regard to point #2, blockers don't really matter when players are this far off of the reservation. Bluff relentlessly vs guys who will fold and don't bluff the stations. If unsure, you can bluff closer to theory.
There's a good, albeit a little outdated, book on exactly this topic, Lee Jones - Winning Low-Limit Hold'em. Worth a read for anyone wanting to study this a little more.
Great stuff. This game is very common especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Huge variance but highly profitable if you can keep your head on straight. One other side not. Gary, use a green screen. Whats going on in your background?
Another thing is that sudden bluffs don't work, but stories do. So like bluff minclick the turn and bet the river pot. Suddenly they fold top pair even. But don't suddenly overbet the river as a bluff. They won't fold.
SLGs can be attacked with 40BB, especially if the buy-in structure is restrictive, as per LA games (66&2/3 blind cap). The reasoning is you can't lose much, but it's easy to 2x or 3x your short stack on one big hand. Especially with big stacks gunning for each other, it's possible to get 40BB and not be noticed, or else get called often if you do shove for value. 40 BB should play super NIT tight and just top-off regularly. You can't lose much posting blinds and folding, except maybe friends at the table. Once you build a stack, you'll have a NIT image but a newfound wider range, so this can confound opponents who'll have you pegged as a super NIT.
It's kind of interesting that Gary is contradicting an article written by Mike about constructing two different ranges vs multi-way limpers. One, a tighter range, for ISO raising and one, a looser range, for over limping. Gary says not to include hands like 75s or JTo but Mike includes one gappers as low as 64s and includes JTo. So this leads me to ask, should the article be ignored in light of a change in current play? Or what?
think you may have misheard. We explicitly say to raise bigger with the good hands, and the min-raise was just an example because Gary knows some great live pros who do that at high stakes (we don't recommend that at lower stakes...MAYBE if you're playing 25/50 or something you can min-raise but even then, 2.5x probably better).
One thought that I’ve come across and wanted to share and maybe get feedback on is c betting with air. I’ve found that if you’re going to c bet with air, c betting on King high boards generate a ton more folds than Ace high boards. I’m guessing this is because players who limp call or flat call an open are doing so with so much more weak Ax than weak Kx. Also, barreling non-Ace turn cards usually gets a fold as well since weak Ax is floating the flop hoping to catch up. Anyone have other strategies that they have found success with?
fold 75s button multi-way? we are good enough not to stack off on 9876? Otoh, on 643, 52s pays us 100bb... I sort of get the point about divided equity, but would struggle to fold that....
I always thought it was easy as well but Bart Hanson claims live play below 2/5 is almost unbeatable due to rake and that the #1 thing is to move up. I'm kinda confused.
I would still recommend betting smaller overall because you are 4 or 5 ways, but if you have bottom set on K65 vs 3 complete droolers you can certainly get away with betting bigger.
Can you clarify 6:00? I thought suited connectors are good in multiway pots? Is it not right to overlimp with these hands and try to hit flushes/straights?
Short answer is they can be quite good, but the reverse implied odds are a strike against them. You can often hop in a multiway pot with a hand like 76s, but you gotta be cautious in certain spots where being over-flushed is relatively likely.
I sort of disagree with you saying people won't notice if you as a nit 3! I have been a nit many times and usually get a comment from a bad reg about "must be aces"
Really depends on the game. Their video is a fair guideline but you always have to adjust to your game and players. Like in my games I see players limping behind limpers with AA/KK which is absolutely mind blowing. Why? We have a high hand promo and they are trying to hit quads despite the math not being remotely close to correct for their play. You just have to pick the guys that never fold to 3b AA and those that don't to bluff 3b with less. Realize your image as well. I do really well at low stakes 1/2, 1/3, 2/5. I don't need to or care to play 5/10. Plenty of bad players at low stakes. If another me sat down and started doing their adjustment strategies I would have a hard time figuring out me. It would take a lot of time to do so. I have to make the connection that me(2) is as good as I am, doing the same thing for the same reasons, and not mixing it up against me-me. But many players in 2023 pick up on things. So if they constantly think you have it as a nit exploit that. They always think I have it so on occasion I bluff in spots where my range shouldn't hit the board and any good player would see through it. Like a raised pot where I have position and it went XBC, XX, X(on me now and I bet the 4 straight) on a board of 72546. Very rare but many of these guys just don't think that I shouldn't be betting that board as the preflop raiser. They zero in on "he must have 88". Be fluid in your thinking.
Did we say that? I would say in general the super nitty people do get sniped as a nit and get less action as a result. That said, I think people who 3-bet only a little less than they should won't get picked up on.
Yes it caps your range + makes it very defined. But the whole point here is that you're doing so against players who won't do anything about the fact that your range is capped/defined. Overlimping in late position even with a good player behind seems fine.
17:30 - the rationale for throwing GTO to the side, and continuing to bet the K9 isn't because our opponent will continue calling here, the biggest reason is because we don't think they'll punish our turn checks due to how weak we've made our checking range, right? Whether they'll call our turn bet or not really isn't the main reason to adjust our turn play, yes?
It's both because we can get more value and we don't have to worry about getting exploited on river. If I knew the guy was never gonna call the turn with worst (extreme example that is obviously untrue) I'd never bet K9 on the turn.
How would you adjust in the small blind seat in general in one of these games? Typically I don't like to call or complete in the small blind for positioning and reverse implied odds reasons, but how much wider if at all, should I adjust if there are more splashy opponents limping. Starting off the season strong, thanks for the content!
If say it is 1/2 a blind or less and a limped pot your limping range is huge in a multiway pot. Say 4 players limp, you are SB, you are now getting at a 1/2 game 11:1 to play your hand. You can pay the $1 with any suited hand, 0 gap connector, etc, etc. Think of it this way. You are paying $1 with a crap hand you need to make 40:1 on to be +EV. Can you make $40 in a pot that is already $11 in this situation? But in a raised pot you should be 3b or folding.
you can for sure complete in the small blind when it's limped to you. I do that somewhat liberally -- I'll throw in the extra 0.5BB with 86o, K2s, etc. Basically anything connected and/or suited (while of course raising the really good/playable hands like AQo QJs etc). As far as calling opens in the SB, I'd be pretty careful with that unless there's a very passive weak player in the big blind. You can get away with it a little bit but it's such a crappy spot to be OOP to multiple players, gotta be very selective.
@@FuzzypupPoker adding on if the bb is passive you can do slam dunk call in the small blind, if small blind is semi competent and squeezes limpers I wouldn't limp behind a lot
@@bookedroomer That is correct. If you have a squeezer in the BB even if he squeezes 15% of the time you simply can't limp in with suited trash. Your equity is below average there and his occasional squeeze makes your limp a little -EV. Hands like Axs or 87s are fine because despite that he squeezes say that 15% you have enough equity to still be profitable for the times he doesn't. Funny I was going to disagree with you but then I decided to run a scenario in Equilab with 4 limpers getting 11:1 with a hand as bad as 72s and then calculated the 15% squeeze and you are correct. Then I put in Axs and 87s which are over 16.5% equity and can withstand the occasional squeeze.
One thing I disagree with, and maybe I misheard it, is when you have an raiser, 2 loose splashy callers, and you are in the BB in a live game. Assuming stacks are deep enough, and if you call...... #1 it will be a 4 way pot where the preflop raiser has to play face up. #2 the other players will generally play face up. #3 you have relative position against the aggressor. I have found this situation incredibly profitable for value and for bluffing with any reasonable hand you could call OTB. Axs, SCs, pairs, suited paint, etc.
Those hands you listed are all indeed incredibly profitable calls because they all play great multiway. The mistake is calling with hands like K8o, A5o, Q8o etc which don't play well multiway.
@@mbradycf Thx for reply. I will follow that advice when I go play at Hard Rock Tampa. Thx for all the videos and I look forward to the squeezing vid. You guys have great chemistry and I'll watch anything you two put out-
Great content! Please reach io me when add more content pertaining to live on the 1/3 to 5/10 in the Lab. Thanks again for uploading this informative Vlog!
one comment from a guy who plays in these soft 2-5 games daily is I wish you guys would of talked about squeezing because there are so many opportunities to squeeze in these games because so many people call the open which sets up perfect squeezing situations. Also, my huge leak is calling big river bets (and turn) thinking these players are bluffing as much as I do in 5-10 games. I'm an idiot calling down light and being shown 2 out full houses that hit there miracle card on turn. They always have it, especially when no 'natural' bluff are out there. Why am I such a donkey calling down big river bets?? Please either help me or slap me cus I need to stop doing this.
Great point about squeezing. I advocate a short, 40BB starting stack with (nitty) squeezing in loose games, especially in capped games with pre-existing monster stacks (no match the stack). Big stacks will open/call huge PF raises (~10BB), so squeezing with 40BB is easy, as-is calling-off 40BB when appropriate.
@xxxYYZxxx short stacking in games like that is so good. You basically get to play a different game that none of the big stacks can play without sacrificing EV vs the other big stacks
@@mbradycf Mike, I never short stack and kinda hate playing against short stack players who only buyin short but I do see the value. How would you advise someone from 2-5 who usually plays 300bb deep that wants to shot take in 10-25 or even (5-10 game that plays bigger)? Thx
@@MaximusMerideus All bankroll considerations equal, I'd base it on the table. If a bad player is 200bb deep, I'd buy-in the 200bb. But say all the bad players are 100bb deep and only the good players have 200bb+, it wouldn't be as good to buy-in deep because you're only getting to play deep vs the good players. Of course, you may just not want to risk $5K by buying in for 200bb. In which case you should buy-in what you're comfortable with -- the worst thing you can do is buy-in for so much that you feel uncomfortable/handcuffed and play worse as a result.
BIG YUCK on telling people to bet 3rd/4th pair for value. YES on some run outs, you absolutely want to, but to think in general that 3rd or 4th pair by the river is a value bet... you need to learn poker odds. SOMETIMES you do, but it's not such the norm that you can treat it like a flippant strategy point. It's entirely board and action dependent.
Pretty sure Gary says the 3rd/4th pair value bets are for the block size (i.e. betting small OOP on the river). Of course it's entirely board and action dependent.
I’ve been watching a lot of your videos lately and noticed that you spend a lot of time saying the same point in like 3 different ways. Just say your point 1 and sometimes 2 times if you feel it’s that important but don’t keep defining and redefining a point. Watch your own video, sometimes you spend like 3-5 minutes in a 25 min video talking about a point that really didn’t need to be emphasized. To that point. My tailored my comment to prove my point. I hope you get it.
I want to add a little extra context to something: Gary mentions that he knows some very good live players who min-raise in early position. But those guys don't play $1/$2 or $2/$5. It's very rare that a min-raise is the best option in those lower stakes games. However, raising smaller from early position and bigger from late is a good idea. Min-raise is just too small (imagine raising to $4 at $1/$2 lol).
question: when in there are 2-5 limpers and i am in the SB, how tight should my completing range be? should i fold any hands? or complete with any 2?
@robert2375 it depends how many limpers. If there's 4 or 5, you need to only pick hands that flop well multiway. Since you're only calling half a BB, you can usually justify it with the offsuit connectors (like 76o) and any somewhat decent suited hand (like 96s). Fold anything worse.
With only 1 or 2 limpers, you can get in there with some high card gappers like K9o/Q8o too. Those hands do somewhat *okay* 3 or 4 ways but are pretty terrible 5/6 ways.
Definitely not any two. You may be getting great odds, but you still wanna set yourself up for success postflop. Having too many junky hands OOP vs many players is not a winning situation.
@@robert2375 I over complete here, and then overfold and over Xraise on the flop.
My logic here: I don’t like folding a flopped 2 pair for .5bb
@@johnnyboychess my question if about preflop... when in the SB and there are many limps.. what range am i completing with? Any 2 ?
@@robert2375 Mike answered your question just above
I’ve been in LA for 2 days absolutely punting it off, I really should listen to my own advice 😂❤
Can I ask what you are playing? 5-10? 10-25? Thx and good luck Gary
Just got into the lab and got through your moving on from the 4 categories module. Feels like I'm completely relearning the game from the ground up. Thank you for the awesome content and I hope it turns around for you on the felt!
@garyblackwoodpoker How can i reach out to you in regard to live cash game coaching for 1/2 & 1/3?
@@spacecadetsMia unfortunately I’m not doing any coaching right now :(
@@jdw1521 love this ❤️❤️
6:45 - I've noticed this a lot on Bart Hanson's call-in show. People will open a hand to a particular number of big blinds and defend the open by observing, "that's the standard open at our table." I think that is a very good reason NOT to use that open size, because it is what people are used to, and what they're using to construct their ranges. You're going to take them off their game by using a different size, and force them to adjust their strategy, and open up the door to them making mistakes.
In loose splashy games your main value hands are AJo+ and KQo+, pocket pairs, and suited aces. I tend to play some suited broadways too, but that's mainly to stave off boredom. Not much use in playing suited connectors when you have such little fold equity, though if the players are passive enough you can limp with them and try to hit 2-pair or better. But keep in mind that the moment an ace hits the table, your crappy 87s two pair is probably losing to some A6o junk because that's just what happens when 9 players see the flop.
Excellent video @Mike Brady and @Gary Blackwood! To add to this great list, the live poker population tends to severely underbluff and to massively overcall. The natural (in a vacuum) adjustment is overfolding and relentless (thin) vbetting like mentioned in the video. On the overfolding side, this includes folding several playable hands preflop, under-defending versus 3bets and making tight river folds (caveat: there are of course exception to this. Poker is not easy).
Incidentally, for anyone new to this: This is much easier said than done. Extreme patience, temperament and self-control to potentially deviate from lines you would typically take against better competition are (underrated) skills that need cultivating like everything else in poker. In fact these skills are so important, I would argue that An ABC but consistent reg will always outperform a talented but impatient/fancy/"creative" player in the long run.
Good luck to you all!
great comment
Play tighter
3bet linearly and for a larger size
Value Bet thinly and relentlessly for maximum value
Overfold to river raises
GG - you just beat 1/2
That J4o comment cracked me up,
The last point is probably the one I struggle with the most. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve folded the best hand because the action (bet, call, call or bet, raise, call) would seem to indicate strong hands but they’re just not. Or rather, not what I would consider a strong hand. You really have to call down pretty lightly in these games vs super wide ranges where opponents think any top pair is the nuts.
Good stuff. This directly applies to just about every game in Texas, and my strategy is pretty spot on with this video.
Excellent episode, great advice for the only game in town where I am at present. I’d add, getting in the right mindset before sitting down is vital, as lots, and I means lots, of unexpected things will still happen.
Thank you so much for this episode! I play at The Lodge, and it's extremely splashy at $1/$2. I'm trying to grind my way up, but I've been unable to figure out how to play effectively at The Lodge.
Very applicable episode for Lodge 1/2! Hope it helps Michael (great name btw)
I don’t play at the lodge but I play a lot of super splashy deeply 1/2 1/3 with match the stack.
Here’s how I crush it: keep your rfi sizing the same-somewhere between $6-$8. Overfold the bottom of your range to a 3 bet, and 4 bet more frequently. What I find is a lot of players will tell you exactly what they have when they 3 bet you. They’re not thinking your range is UTG and that’s just a standard raise size… they see $6 and think (weak raise, weak hand) therefore I’m gonna 3bet this KTo, Axo. When coming into a pot with 3-4 players, raise big when you choose to enter. I typically go 2.5-3x of what’s in the whole pot. Say I’m sitting in the cutoff with AJo and UTG opened to $15, and LJ and MP called- we’re going to $80-$115 for value. However, we’re folding hands like J9o, Q8o even though we have enough equity 5 way to get it.
Yo Michael! See you at the tables
It’s very loose. 4th time ever playing live was at the lodge and the 1/2/5 PLO was playing like a 5/10…was out of my depth on the bomb pot situation and got stacked for a buyin.
Good content..... another trait of these games is that players don't 3-bet enough, particularly from the blinds, so you can widen your opening range on the few times it is folded to you in late position.
Just shared this video with a ton of friends who play these stakes like me...but in different states lol...thanks guys!
Most of this is good info. Just mind your head if you already have most of this stuff down. The other day at 1/3, which I beat for around 20bbs per hour, I had one premium hand for 3 hours(if you call KQs a premium), won 1 small pot, and was down 100$. I knew I had to leave in the next 10 minutes, so I was desperate to make something happen. I raise a limper in MP with T8s, get another caller, and proceed to bluff/blast away another 300$ when I had showdown value. Yikes. Tilt is real...let the other players tilt, not you. It may not always be possible if you travel, but keep your sessions short if you notice loss of interest or tilt.
I’ll be playing live $1/$2 at Mohegan in CT on Sunday. Great tips here that I’ll keep in mind. Thanks guys!
Good luck dude !
I was counting the days for this to come out. and it definitely spurred a lot of thought on my end. awesome as always.
that's great to hear, thanks for listening
Guys @mike and @gazza... One thing I really struggle with is knowing when we make a hand on river, straight, flush, two-pair OOP when we should lead or check raise... I've heard Doug say "I check whole range on this card (say flush completing) - when do we want to blast river (polarized), block, or check raise (assume also polarized) - I'd be grateful for an episode
Upswing has helped me climb out of a 3k downswing (playing 1/3) and become a winning player. Thanks for all your videos
LFG upswing!!!!!!
I like the youtube shorts that the Scottish guy makes. This podcast is great too i listen to it on Spotify mostly.
thanks for listening/watching! I like those shorts too. We post those on Tik Tok and Instagram as well if you happen to use those platforms.
thank you for your time guys! valuable stuff
Thanks yall
I definitely have been using your tip about playing differently when the good players are in vs. when they are already out of a hand. I've taken it a step further, too, exploiting what the good players *know* about me. I was pretty sure that this one particular good player had observed that I altered my bet sizing based on the quality of my hand, as you suggest, but I didn't think he realized that I never did it against him.
So the freakish occurrence happened and a hand was down to just him and me, the splashers having hands so bad that they actually folded. I had raised preflop with a AQ and he (button) was my only caller. Flop was a T74 rainbow which I normally would have c-bet 1/3ish pot in a tough game against a single opponent. However, in this game I had not been c-betting much (it usually being 5 to the flop), and had been betting larger with my strong hands and smaller with my OK, but not great hands and strong draws. So I bet fairly big, as if I had an overpair. He showed ATs with backdoor flush possibility and mucked it, saying he *knew* I had kings or queens. I just said, 'good read' and stacked the chips.
With regard to point #2, blockers don't really matter when players are this far off of the reservation. Bluff relentlessly vs guys who will fold and don't bluff the stations. If unsure, you can bluff closer to theory.
Love the podcast, I listen to it while I’m at work 👌
MORE OF THIS GOLD!!❤
Great episode. My local club there are guys who love to bet and call blind. Happy days
"Some girls will have J4 for sure" hahahahaha
There's a good, albeit a little outdated, book on exactly this topic, Lee Jones - Winning Low-Limit Hold'em. Worth a read for anyone wanting to study this a little more.
Solid content 😊 not a scam
Great video, thanks!
Appreciate you watching Red!
Great stuff. This game is very common especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Huge variance but highly profitable if you can keep your head on straight. One other side not. Gary, use a green screen. Whats going on in your background?
Brilliant advice
Another thing is that sudden bluffs don't work, but stories do. So like bluff minclick the turn and bet the river pot. Suddenly they fold top pair even. But don't suddenly overbet the river as a bluff. They won't fold.
Great video guys! People who play in games like this “Texas” 😅 need to understand these dynamics.
Great pod. Thanks gentlemen
Love the content!
Thanks for your content.
28:10 Some girls for sure play J4o 😂 I understood that reference e
Great podcast!
Squeaking sound at around 10:08 scared me lol
Really interesting beep choice from our editor
SLGs can be attacked with 40BB, especially if the buy-in structure is restrictive, as per LA games (66&2/3 blind cap). The reasoning is you can't lose much, but it's easy to 2x or 3x your short stack on one big hand. Especially with big stacks gunning for each other, it's possible to get 40BB and not be noticed, or else get called often if you do shove for value.
40 BB should play super NIT tight and just top-off regularly. You can't lose much posting blinds and folding, except maybe friends at the table. Once you build a stack, you'll have a NIT image but a newfound wider range, so this can confound opponents who'll have you pegged as a super NIT.
Hi Mike.
hey there, thanks for watching
great video thanks
Thanks 🙏🏻
It's kind of interesting that Gary is contradicting an article written by Mike about constructing two different ranges vs multi-way limpers. One, a tighter range, for ISO raising and one, a looser range, for over limping. Gary says not to include hands like 75s or JTo but Mike includes one gappers as low as 64s and includes JTo. So this leads me to ask, should the article be ignored in light of a change in current play? Or what?
So were only sizing up with our strong hands in middle to late position and in early position keep it small?
you can size up a little in early position as well, just don't go so big that you disincentivize 3-bets.
Minraise UTG with AA, yeah ok, I’m sure this plays great after 6 players call.
think you may have misheard. We explicitly say to raise bigger with the good hands, and the min-raise was just an example because Gary knows some great live pros who do that at high stakes (we don't recommend that at lower stakes...MAYBE if you're playing 25/50 or something you can min-raise but even then, 2.5x probably better).
One thought that I’ve come across and wanted to share and maybe get feedback on is c betting with air.
I’ve found that if you’re going to c bet with air, c betting on King high boards generate a ton more folds than Ace high boards. I’m guessing this is because players who limp call or flat call an open are doing so with so much more weak Ax than weak Kx.
Also, barreling non-Ace turn cards usually gets a fold as well since weak Ax is floating the flop hoping to catch up.
Anyone have other strategies that they have found success with?
28:13 “some girls, jack four offsuit” lmao. Wasn’t expecting that joke
Maybe that will go over some ppl’s heads
What about donkbets on flop or turn? Raise them as bluff?
fold 75s button multi-way? we are good enough not to stack off on 9876? Otoh, on 643, 52s pays us 100bb... I sort of get the point about divided equity, but would struggle to fold that....
I always thought it was easy as well but Bart Hanson claims live play below 2/5 is almost unbeatable due to rake and that the #1 thing is to move up. I'm kinda confused.
Should you use a large size on the flop when 4-5 ways in splashy games? As in a normal game I know you are supposed to bet smaller.
I would still recommend betting smaller overall because you are 4 or 5 ways, but if you have bottom set on K65 vs 3 complete droolers you can certainly get away with betting bigger.
You wouldn't call 75s on the BTN in a splashy multiway game?
That cat sound effect scared the shit out of me. Wasn't expecting Garfield to be screaming in my ear.
Can you clarify 6:00? I thought suited connectors are good in multiway pots? Is it not right to overlimp with these hands and try to hit flushes/straights?
Short answer is they can be quite good, but the reverse implied odds are a strike against them. You can often hop in a multiway pot with a hand like 76s, but you gotta be cautious in certain spots where being over-flushed is relatively likely.
Thanks!
Some girls like playing J4 🤣 #RobbiLew
The J4o comment is hilarious. haha
"Some girls are definitely in there with J4o" 🤣😂🤣
Literally wow
I sort of disagree with you saying people won't notice if you as a nit 3! I have been a nit many times and usually get a comment from a bad reg about "must be aces"
Really depends on the game. Their video is a fair guideline but you always have to adjust to your game and players. Like in my games I see players limping behind limpers with AA/KK which is absolutely mind blowing. Why? We have a high hand promo and they are trying to hit quads despite the math not being remotely close to correct for their play.
You just have to pick the guys that never fold to 3b AA and those that don't to bluff 3b with less. Realize your image as well.
I do really well at low stakes 1/2, 1/3, 2/5. I don't need to or care to play 5/10. Plenty of bad players at low stakes. If another me sat down and started doing their adjustment strategies I would have a hard time figuring out me. It would take a lot of time to do so. I have to make the connection that me(2) is as good as I am, doing the same thing for the same reasons, and not mixing it up against me-me.
But many players in 2023 pick up on things. So if they constantly think you have it as a nit exploit that. They always think I have it so on occasion I bluff in spots where my range shouldn't hit the board and any good player would see through it. Like a raised pot where I have position and it went XBC, XX, X(on me now and I bet the 4 straight) on a board of 72546. Very rare but many of these guys just don't think that I shouldn't be betting that board as the preflop raiser. They zero in on "he must have 88".
Be fluid in your thinking.
Did we say that? I would say in general the super nitty people do get sniped as a nit and get less action as a result. That said, I think people who 3-bet only a little less than they should won't get picked up on.
Wouldn't limping cap your range? And if you had a good player on your left yet to act would you still over limp?
Yes it caps your range + makes it very defined. But the whole point here is that you're doing so against players who won't do anything about the fact that your range is capped/defined.
Overlimping in late position even with a good player behind seems fine.
17:30 - the rationale for throwing GTO to the side, and continuing to bet the K9 isn't because our opponent will continue calling here, the biggest reason is because we don't think they'll punish our turn checks due to how weak we've made our checking range, right? Whether they'll call our turn bet or not really isn't the main reason to adjust our turn play, yes?
It's both because we can get more value and we don't have to worry about getting exploited on river. If I knew the guy was never gonna call the turn with worst (extreme example that is obviously untrue) I'd never bet K9 on the turn.
@@mbradycf thank you
Good
28:03 - I understood that reference ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
How would you adjust in the small blind seat in general in one of these games? Typically I don't like to call or complete in the small blind for positioning and reverse implied odds reasons, but how much wider if at all, should I adjust if there are more splashy opponents limping. Starting off the season strong, thanks for the content!
If say it is 1/2 a blind or less and a limped pot your limping range is huge in a multiway pot. Say 4 players limp, you are SB, you are now getting at a 1/2 game 11:1 to play your hand. You can pay the $1 with any suited hand, 0 gap connector, etc, etc. Think of it this way. You are paying $1 with a crap hand you need to make 40:1 on to be +EV. Can you make $40 in a pot that is already $11 in this situation?
But in a raised pot you should be 3b or folding.
you can for sure complete in the small blind when it's limped to you. I do that somewhat liberally -- I'll throw in the extra 0.5BB with 86o, K2s, etc. Basically anything connected and/or suited (while of course raising the really good/playable hands like AQo QJs etc).
As far as calling opens in the SB, I'd be pretty careful with that unless there's a very passive weak player in the big blind. You can get away with it a little bit but it's such a crappy spot to be OOP to multiple players, gotta be very selective.
@@FuzzypupPoker adding on if the bb is passive you can do slam dunk call in the small blind, if small blind is semi competent and squeezes limpers I wouldn't limp behind a lot
You want to limp from the SB with hands that can make straights or flushes. Fold the off suited 2 and 3 gapers.
@@bookedroomer That is correct. If you have a squeezer in the BB even if he squeezes 15% of the time you simply can't limp in with suited trash. Your equity is below average there and his occasional squeeze makes your limp a little -EV.
Hands like Axs or 87s are fine because despite that he squeezes say that 15% you have enough equity to still be profitable for the times he doesn't.
Funny I was going to disagree with you but then I decided to run a scenario in Equilab with 4 limpers getting 11:1 with a hand as bad as 72s and then calculated the 15% squeeze and you are correct. Then I put in Axs and 87s which are over 16.5% equity and can withstand the occasional squeeze.
One thing I disagree with, and maybe I misheard it, is when you have an raiser, 2 loose splashy callers, and you are in the BB in a live game. Assuming stacks are deep enough, and if you call......
#1 it will be a 4 way pot where the preflop raiser has to play face up.
#2 the other players will generally play face up.
#3 you have relative position against the aggressor.
I have found this situation incredibly profitable for value and for bluffing with any reasonable hand you could call OTB. Axs, SCs, pairs, suited paint, etc.
Those hands you listed are all indeed incredibly profitable calls because they all play great multiway. The mistake is calling with hands like K8o, A5o, Q8o etc which don't play well multiway.
@@mbradycf Mike Brady, how's Carol? Okay dumb 80's joke. I wish you guys could of went onto squeezing in these soft games . Thx though
@@MaximusMerideus squeeze with good hands that have great playability!
We'll cover it more in depth in the future.
@@mbradycf Thx for reply. I will follow that advice when I go play at Hard Rock Tampa. Thx for all the videos and I look forward to the squeezing vid. You guys have great chemistry and I'll watch anything you two put out-
@@mbradycf 100% agree
Explain inelastic in this context please.
Check this article out for a detailed explanation: upswingpoker.com/snowball-winnings-bad-poker-players/
Guest appearance from a cat around 10 min in.
"Race Size"
Great content! Please reach io me when add more content pertaining to live on the 1/3 to 5/10 in the Lab. Thanks again for uploading this informative Vlog!
More Doug Please
ua-cam.com/users/dougpolkpoker he's releasing daily videos right now
one comment from a guy who plays in these soft 2-5 games daily is I wish you guys would of talked about squeezing because there are so many opportunities to squeeze in these games because so many people call the open which sets up perfect squeezing situations. Also, my huge leak is calling big river bets (and turn) thinking these players are bluffing as much as I do in 5-10 games. I'm an idiot calling down light and being shown 2 out full houses that hit there miracle card on turn. They always have it, especially when no 'natural' bluff are out there. Why am I such a donkey calling down big river bets?? Please either help me or slap me cus I need to stop doing this.
I think squeezing might have to be a whole episode!
Great point about squeezing. I advocate a short, 40BB starting stack with (nitty) squeezing in loose games, especially in capped games with pre-existing monster stacks (no match the stack). Big stacks will open/call huge PF raises (~10BB), so squeezing with 40BB is easy, as-is calling-off 40BB when appropriate.
@xxxYYZxxx short stacking in games like that is so good. You basically get to play a different game that none of the big stacks can play without sacrificing EV vs the other big stacks
@@mbradycf Mike, I never short stack and kinda hate playing against short stack players who only buyin short but I do see the value. How would you advise someone from 2-5 who usually plays 300bb deep that wants to shot take in 10-25 or even (5-10 game that plays bigger)? Thx
@@MaximusMerideus All bankroll considerations equal, I'd base it on the table. If a bad player is 200bb deep, I'd buy-in the 200bb. But say all the bad players are 100bb deep and only the good players have 200bb+, it wouldn't be as good to buy-in deep because you're only getting to play deep vs the good players.
Of course, you may just not want to risk $5K by buying in for 200bb. In which case you should buy-in what you're comfortable with -- the worst thing you can do is buy-in for so much that you feel uncomfortable/handcuffed and play worse as a result.
Loose splashy = 5/10 match the stack at the Lodge.
did someone say The Lodge?!
what if i just want to win a little bit
auper content
BIG YUCK on telling people to bet 3rd/4th pair for value.
YES on some run outs, you absolutely want to, but to think in general that 3rd or 4th pair by the river is a value bet... you need to learn poker odds.
SOMETIMES you do, but it's not such the norm that you can treat it like a flippant strategy point.
It's entirely board and action dependent.
Pretty sure Gary says the 3rd/4th pair value bets are for the block size (i.e. betting small OOP on the river). Of course it's entirely board and action dependent.
ALLEGATIONS concerning Poker’s newest content creator Rob Kuhn have REsurfaced!
Is that not a Belfast accent lol
Please fix the thumbnails. Thanks
what needs to be fixed?
I’ve been watching a lot of your videos lately and noticed that you spend a lot of time saying the same point in like 3 different ways. Just say your point 1 and sometimes 2 times if you feel it’s that important but don’t keep defining and redefining a point. Watch your own video, sometimes you spend like 3-5 minutes in a 25 min video talking about a point that really didn’t need to be emphasized.
To that point. My tailored my comment to prove my point. I hope you get it.
Don't really get the misogyny and sexism in the video...
Hey, can you clarify this please? Any timestamps?
@@garyblackwoodpoker He didn't get the J4 joke.