Originally posted by Solidius
I love this thread. Right now i am playing NL25 zoom 6max and i think this thread would help me a lot. I'll have to find some questions to ask you.
Ok cool, look forward to hearing your questions.
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This is just a mindset thing, but I have nobody else to ask so I try with you (since I do play 6-max)
Struggling with nl5, I have serious trouble thinking in ranges. I try a little, but then my thinking just becomes something like "I have top-pair, they have something worse, I bet".
Do you have any idea on how to fix this?
Forgot to mention: I only play 4 tables so I dont think its because of too much action
Multi-questions!
1. What's zoom?
2. I've been out of the poker scene for a long time (hence above question). Been living in NYC for the past year, but looks like I'm coming home later in the year. I want to start getting back in to poker, but is play money actually effective for this since people tend not to take it seriously? Or should I just read and get my head back in to it?
3. In the play money and micro-stakes world. Do you recommend thinking in levels? I mean, is there really much point in trying to outplaying your opponent, or are you best off just practising reading ranges, and then playing ABC poker instead of throwing out any bluffs of tricky plays?
I think that's all for now. Cheer Pleno
Hi Pleno,
My question is in regards to button opening ranges vs aggressive 3bettors in the blinds. I play NL50 6max zoom and frequently come up against aggressive regs in the blinds who seem to 3bet at will. These players tend to have an over all 3bet of 8 - 12%.
My adjustment has been to tighten my range, reduce open size to 2.4bb and make frequent light 4bets.
eg:
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
SB ($62.79)
BB ($86.63)
UTG ($205)
UTG+1 ($222)
CO ($60.33)
Hero ($53.43)
Dealt to Hero A♣ 9♥
fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.20, SB raises to $4, fold, Hero raises to $11, fold
Hero shows A♣ 9♥
Hero wins $8.50
I am comfortable making this play when I have a hand with a blocker and low post flop playability. But what about other hands that have more post flop potential, but are still too week to get in for value? e.g. 6♥ 8♥, 7♦ 7♣, Q♠ J♥???
With 100bb effective stacks I struggle to play these hands profitably vs a 3bet even in position. So I sometimes fold these types of hands when on the button and aggressive regs are sitting in the blinds. Surely this will hurt my win rate in zoom where blind stealing is so important?
What is your plan with 100bb stacks and these types of mid range hands?
I loved your videos and have recently been taking a more aggressive approach to my 9 max game. It has certainly helped my winrate.
My question for you is this:
Don't you find that your chances of having a fish at your table in 9max makes it more profitable than 6max in zoom, where you can't table select?
Or do you find that your edge is greater in 6 max because you can make lots of aggressive blind plays?
I have been flip-flopping between FR and SH but have found I am more profitable at FR for my fish reasoning.
Also, similar to the above post, what opponents do you make light (2.2x or so) 4bets against? I find some opponents who 3bet almost 15% of the time in certain scienarios, but I am not certain which spots it is profitable to make such 4bets in. I know I am missing value here but since I'm unsure what % 3bet it is profitable against and which hands to do it with, I just avoid it altogether.
Finally, do you sometimes like to flat QQ-AA vs tight regs who have high (75+) fold to 3bet from the cutoff and also have high (75+) cbet %?
I have been finding that I play less and less aggressive with these premium hands preflop lately because of how high the fold to 3bet is for most players, especially when they are OOP.
Thanks for making this thread!
Flash
@DailyDollarPro - Broadway hands you're necessarily thrilled about defending like QTo, JTo, KJo, KQo, ATo, AJo, KTs, QTs & A2-A5o are the nuts for 4bet bluffing in these spots IMO.
22-88 are probably almost always bad to 4bet, no blockers and they play horribly when villain feels like flatting a 4bet :f_mad:.
You're typically not going to see a flop when you 4bet in this spot vs. a reg so low suited hands are not going to matter much, blockers are more important.
Couldn't help but give some input when I seen you're question, sorry for jacking your thread pleno.
@pleno - awesome thread i'll think of some questions
Originally posted by druidulix
This is just a mindset thing, but I have nobody else to ask so I try with you (since I do play 6-max)Struggling with nl5, I have serious trouble thinking in ranges. I try a little, but then my thinking just becomes something like "I have top-pair, they have something worse, I bet".
Do you have any idea on how to fix this?
Forgot to mention: I only play 4 tables so I dont think its because of too much action
Hey druidulix,
How many tables do you play? I would recommend playing less tables if you are playing more than 4.
I think you should play alot of micro HU SNG's, you learn alot about bet sizings and board textures/hand reading because you have to play a huge % of the pots. The players are generally bad and even if you don't show a huge profit it will help you massively in the future.
Thinking in ranges in poker is absolutely essential, but it comes with grinding. The more you grind the more natural it is, its a hard game of course, if it was easy then everybody would be winning thousands every month.
Hard work + study (post as many hands in hand evaluation forums as possible) whilst watching our education material and I'm sure you will be successful.
I firmly believe that anybody can beat nl200 if they put enough time and effort into it.
Originally posted by DailyDollarPro
Hi Pleno,My question is in regards to button opening ranges vs aggressive 3bettors in the blinds. I play NL50 6max zoom and frequently come up against aggressive regs in the blinds who seem to 3bet at will. These players tend to have an over all 3bet of 8 - 12%.
My adjustment has been to tighten my range, reduce open size to 2.4bb and make frequent light 4bets.
eg:
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
SB ($62.79)
BB ($86.63)
UTG ($205)
UTG+1 ($222)
CO ($60.33)
Hero ($53.43)Dealt to Hero A♣ 9♥
fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.20, SB raises to $4, fold, Hero raises to $11, fold
Hero shows A♣ 9♥
Hero wins $8.50
I am comfortable making this play when I have a hand with a blocker and low post flop playability. But what about other hands that have more post flop potential, but are still too week to get in for value? e.g. 6♥ 8♥, 7♦ 7♣, Q♠ J♥???
With 100bb effective stacks I struggle to play these hands profitably vs a 3bet even in position. So I sometimes fold these types of hands when on the button and aggressive regs are sitting in the blinds. Surely this will hurt my win rate in zoom where blind stealing is so important?
What is your plan with 100bb stacks and these types of mid range hands?
Hey dude - great nickname ♦
I've spoken in the thread about players tendancies to 3bet a lot but scared to 5bet all in for full stacks, this means that in spots where they can be light very often (btn vs blinds is a great example) we should look to 4bet bluff whenever we deem it to be profitable.
I posted in the thread earlier about the EV of a bluff and the EV of a 3bet. Here is the mathematical algorithm of a 4bet bluff
ev (4bet) = x* (9bb+3bb+1.5bb) - (1-x) * 19bb
The quick math to remember is that villain needs to fold to the 4bet 60% of the time to make it an immediate profitable 4bet bluff.
So what hands are good to 4bet bluff?
Often game flow can be more important than our actual cards. So if we know that villain is going to 3bet us light for a certain reason then it may be fine to 4bet 72o. If we expect the villain to only ever 5b shove or fold, then flop equity hands such as 78s become bad hands to 4bet in a vacuum as we don't get to exploit the playability out of the hands and using a hand such as A2 is going to be better and a hand such as KJo even better.
What is a blocker? So in every players range they have a combination on cards to build the range. For example:
For hands that are not a pair (i.e AK or 72) there are 16 combinations
For hands that are pairs (i.e 22/aa) there are 6 combinations
So lets say villain is going to 3bet bluff lots of random hands and then 3b/5b AQ+ AK JJ+
Given that range he has the following combinations:
AQ = 16
AK = 16
JJ = 6
QQ = 6
KK = 6
AA = 6
= 46 combinations
If we 4bet 78s vs a 5b or fold guy then we don't effect any of his value range.
Now lets look at if we have Kc Jc. We now block 4 combinations of AK, 3 combinations of JJ and 3 combinations of KK.
Meaning we reduce his value combinations from 46 to 36 by having BLOCKERS
Originally posted by FlashDavin
I loved your videos and have recently been taking a more aggressive approach to my 9 max game. It has certainly helped my winrate.My question for you is this:
Don't you find that your chances of having a fish at your table in 9max makes it more profitable than 6max in zoom, where you can't table select?
Or do you find that your edge is greater in 6 max because you can make lots of aggressive blind plays?I have been flip-flopping between FR and SH but have found I am more profitable at FR for my fish reasoning.
Also, similar to the above post, what opponents do you make light (2.2x or so) 4bets against? I find some opponents who 3bet almost 15% of the time in certain scienarios, but I am not certain which spots it is profitable to make such 4bets in. I know I am missing value here but since I'm unsure what % 3bet it is profitable against and which hands to do it with, I just avoid it altogether.
Finally, do you sometimes like to flat QQ-AA vs tight regs who have high (75+) fold to 3bet from the cutoff and also have high (75+) cbet %?
I have been finding that I play less and less aggressive with these premium hands preflop lately because of how high the fold to 3bet is for most players, especially when they are OOP.Thanks for making this thread!
Flash
Hey,
Thanks, I enjoyed making them too 
I can't really comment on your questions because I have played very little/none? full ring. I have heard it is a very nitty game and I think because of my over aggressiveness I would perhaps be too aggressive and have some leaks :/
I did actually play quite a lot of full ring rush on full tilt, and really enjoyed it. I lost one of my biggest ever pots there 600bbs deep ♠_evil:
Hopefully my post above covers the standard blind v button 4bet scenarios etc.
I definitely think flatting QQ/KK is going to be good, however if a player is this tight I have most likely been 3betting him almost every time he opens and if the game flow is situationary that he will eventually spaz out (EVERY NIT WILL BLOW UP IF YOU PUSH THEM HARD ENOUGH)
If I also am 3betting these guys a huge % of the time and then flat big hands my 3betting range is going to be too weak and in 2012 cold 4bets from the blinds vs co/btn are very common so just because first guy folds doesn't mean somebody else won't donate
If I missed anything let me know.
Hi
1) What do you think is the most common mistake Regs make playing Zoom?
2) What is your 3betting range fom SB vs. BU? What do you do with Hands like KTs, QJs JTs, QJo in SB vs. BU steal if BB is a Reg who will squeeze often.
Originally posted by DeMarcohsp
Would you take me as your long term student till I beat NL 100 zoom ♦ ?
I'm currently very passionate about coaching. I have done longer term profit % deals before and they have always turned out to be quite bad and I think my motivation is a lot lower in these rather than paid for deals where I spend time planning sessions and having good session plans/development course.
Maybe this is a little cheeky posting, but here was the plan of action with the most recent guy that I started coaching.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -
The training program will consist of 12 hours, which will be split up into 8 1.30 sessions.
The first training session will start on Sunday 1st July. at 4pm CET
Below is what we will cover.
Session 1 - Positional awareness - Each position going through starting hands, our ranges and moving on about how and when we should adjust each positional range depending on table dynamics. Depending on time, we will move on to cut off vs button dynamics and sb vs bb dynamics, coming up with an overall game plan
Session 2 - Adjusting and balance- This session will talk about how to adjust properly. Patrick will provide up to 10 different scenarios and we will discuss them together, these will be holdem manager profiles.
Session 3 - 3betting and defending 3bets - Theory session on 3betting, talking about when to defend 3bets oop, sizings etc Patrick will provide hand historys.
Session 4 - Min 4bets from the button, Patrick to prepare analysis and discuss in the session.
p2 look at some big 4bet hands, top 20 losing hands in 4bet pots.
Session 5 - Live sweat - Patrick giving live sweat
Session 6 - When to do dumb bluffs/ how to spot dumb bluffs - Session on how to spot dumb bluffs and spots where we should do dumb bluffs that are unbalanced but unexploitable
p2, checking back theory
Session 7 - to be decided, depending on development of program
Session 8 - to be decided, depending on development of program
In any session, you can obviously ask any further questions and we can do a 15 min Q&A for stuff that we haven't covered in the session but you think is relevant/you're unsure about.
Originally posted by bennisboy
Multi-questions!1. What's zoom?
2. I've been out of the poker scene for a long time (hence above question). Been living in NYC for the past year, but looks like I'm coming home later in the year. I want to start getting back in to poker, but is play money actually effective for this since people tend not to take it seriously? Or should I just read and get my head back in to it?
3. In the play money and micro-stakes world. Do you recommend thinking in levels? I mean, is there really much point in trying to outplaying your opponent, or are you best off just practising reading ranges, and then playing ABC poker instead of throwing out any bluffs of tricky plays?
I think that's all for now. Cheer Pleno
1) Fast paced games such as zoom, blaze and rush are games invented to make users able to play more hands per hour. Basically if you want to fold you don't have to watch the whole hand. There is a button called Fast Fold, you press this and are immediately dealt at a new table with new players. The pros are that you play more hands per hour and the cons are that the fish are less likely to play marginal hands.
2) Nice thin brag about living in NYC, wp I'll give you that one 
I wouldn't really recommend play money, however if you've been out the loop for a while, playing a few hours of play money to get back into the grind mindset and get used to the software could be a great thing.
3) Definitely not, levelling is very important in every single game of poker. However for microstakes we only need to get to level 2.
I said it before in the thread but will reiterate again.
At play money/micro stakes, when you flop top pair keep betting, once they raise, fold.
Originally posted by Becks777
Hi1) What do you think is the most common mistake Regs make playing Zoom?
2) What is your 3betting range fom SB vs. BU? What do you do with Hands like KTs, QJs JTs, QJo in SB vs. BU steal if BB is a Reg who will squeeze often.
Hi Becks
1) Folding the cut off, people in general fold the cut off way too much, but we should be opening the cut off super wide and especially in zoom.
2) It all depends on opponent, but generally my strategy is to 3b or fold from out of position as I prefer to play with initiative.
If you prefer to 3bet or fold oop what do you do with Hands like ATo QTo QJo JTo that are just too weak to 3bet imo? Ofcourse it depends on Villain but you do have a default gameplan for these hands in BB vs. BU steal or?
I have Problems on Flops like 995 r with AT after defending passive. I mostly c/c but get barreld of on later streets unimproved.
Do you have any plans to produce more vids? Preferably 6max to try make my question more relevant.
Your training program reminds me of a series I watched called 'amateur to pro'. I won't state the coach/site in case its against forum rules. But the coach takes a struggling ssnl player and turns him into a winning msnl player. They run through all the theory of starting hands and when to adjust, cold calling, 3betting, 4betting and 5betting in the first 3/4 vids. Then they do live sessions and go through hand histories etc. There's something like 14 vids but only seen 8/9.
With your aggro style would love to see something like this. Obviously I know you have other commitments so you may not be able to produce any vids. But if it was possible to do 2/3 theory vids or session reviews think it could be an excellent addition to pokerstrategy's video section.
edit: Or possibly a 2/3 vid leakfinder series.
Originally posted by Becks777
If you prefer to 3bet or fold oop what do you do with Hands like ATo QTo QJo JTo that are just too weak to 3bet imo? Ofcourse it depends on Villain but you do have a default gameplan for these hands in BB vs. BU steal or?I have Problems on Flops like 995 r with AT after defending passive. I mostly c/c but get barreld of on later streets unimproved.
Hey Becks,
Why do you think these hands are too weak to 3bet? As always it totally depends on the player, if they call a lot of 3bets then 3betting q10o may not be great and we can just make a fold and avoid playing out of position without initiative. But these hands have blockers and decent post flop playability which can for example turn good equity. Also if wer 3bet these hands it means we can barrel alot more of Qxx, Kxx, Axx boards as bluffs and put villains in "coffin" spots.
Because of your second point is the reason why calling is going to be bad, we often end up with weak/capped ranges that will struggle vs aggressive players.
Originally posted by holmeboy
Do you have any plans to produce more vids? Preferably 6max to try make my question more relevant.Your training program reminds me of a series I watched called 'amateur to pro'. I won't state the coach/site in case its against forum rules. But the coach takes a struggling ssnl player and turns him into a winning msnl player. They run through all the theory of starting hands and when to adjust, cold calling, 3betting, 4betting and 5betting in the first 3/4 vids. Then they do live sessions and go through hand histories etc. There's something like 14 vids but only seen 8/9. With your aggro style would love to see something like this. Obviously I know you have other commitments so you may not be able to produce any vids. But if it was possible to do 2/3 theory vids or even session reviews think it could be an excellent addition to pokerstrategy's video section.
Hey holmeboy,
Thanks for respecting our rules and not posting links etc 
I don't have any huge plans to start making a lot of videos. I'm happy to do this thread and give a huge amount of advice out but making a video where other regs can come and access it a lot more easier is perhaps not the best thing for me to do when I play such an aggressive game which is potentially easy to exploit giving the correct adjustments.
I currently have a gf, 2 dogs, try to play a lot of poker hands, play for a football team whilst still working in Gibraltar with PokerStrategy.com from 10-7 every day so time is really limited at the moment. I think if I did choose to do a video series then it would definitely be something along the lines that you posted and think it could help a lot of people.
I guess.. watch this space 
No problem. Understand that your time is limited! I'm just curious to see what such an aggressive (and winning) game looks like in action!