w34z3l's Poker Academy

Hey guys! Has there been some kind of homework assignment during last session? Couldn't follow it till the end.

I don't recall any homework being set. (So I hope there wasn't any - lol)

W34z31 did go through your post after you left, and suggested that you could catch up on it when the video was posted.

Ales851, there is nothing that wrong with approach of taking small shots and moving down. It's actually an approach which allows us to get away with the lightest bankroll requirements. However we should obviously do this because it's planned rather than because we become scared money.

Marteen - Usually regulating your volume will solve the first problem. Decide how many hands you want to play per week and per session and stick to it no matter what. If you don't have this sort of schedule in place then you will naturally be tempted to play longer when you are stuck and possibly quit early when you are up. Forcing yourself to complete the planned volume and play no more afterwards is an excellent way to increase the strength of your mindset and will also ensure that you don't spend a disproportionate amount of time playing when you are not playing your A-game.

Scared money was covered extensively in the coaching. Basic idea is that it's normal to play slightly worse than usual when playing higher limits. The only way to get past this is to simply play through it until you feel comfortable at the limit. The scared money will slowly disappear. However if you make the mistake of moving down limits when you are feeling scared money then the problem will never improve, you are simply avoiding it.

mattyvx - sounds like common problem is that you are levelling yourself which is usually caused by overthinking. However feeling that something unjust is going on (i.e being continually exploited by the same guy) can cause us to reason really badly. We might really want to continue in a certain spot and we use our logic to support our desire to continue rather than use logic to well....make a logical decision.

Sounds like you might be suffering from a bit of paranoia also, assuming people are bluffing when they are not etc. Usually this kind of issue has a basis in strategic understanding. In other words if you make a bad river call, you possible even know it's bad, but you are not 100% convinced. And the reason you are not 100% convinced often results from a lack of strategic understanding. So improving the strategic side of your game in this area will often give you the confidence not to level yourself etc and simply make the best decision.

As for playing when we know we shouldn't, see the comments I left for Marteen. Regulating our volume and coming up with a grinding schedule can be very helpful for this.

@8runo: Thanks!

Dear w34z3l, thank you very much for your indeed valuable recommendations! I will do my best to apply these.

Thank you for your answer. Each your coaching/video is very valueable for me

Ok, looks like a certain coach is on holiday this Thursday which means we get some extra Academy slots!

So I would like to review a topic that I haven't discussed in a while but is nonetheless extremely important.

This week - Cbetting
Next week - Double-Barreling

So feel free to post a few hands in this thread as usual. I will give 2 points for first hand, 1 point each for the next 2 for a total of 3 hands. Has to be a hand where we have a cbetting decision in the flop. Be creative though, 3bet pots, 4bet pots, 7bet pots, anything goes.

Post Cbetting decisions below for review

I want to start with a hand where I obviously made a big mistake in putting the whole money in on the flop. I do not even know if the c-bet was right, since my hand is so face up in this 3 bet spot:

UTG: 84 BB (VPIP: 24.14, PFR: 10.34, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 31)
MP: 106 BB (VPIP: 18.09, PFR: 13.43, 3Bet Preflop: 5.36, Hands: 811)
CO: 85.5 BB (VPIP: 35.00, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 20)
Hero (BTN): 103 BB
SB: 45.5 BB (VPIP: 13.79, PFR: 5.17, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 58)
BB: 62.5 BB (VPIP: 43.11, PFR: 7.78, 3Bet Preflop: 1.41, Hands: 172)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has As Kc
fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, fold, MP calls 6 BB

Flop : (19.5 BB, 2 players) Kd Ad 6c
MP checks, Hero bets 13.5 BB, MP raises to 27 BB, Hero raises to 94 BB and is all-in, MP calls 67 BB

Turn : (207.5 BB, 2 players) 9c

River : (207.5 BB, 2 players) Ts

Hero shows As Kc (Two Pair, Aces and Kings)
(Pre 45%, Flop 17%, Turn 9%)

MP shows 6s 6d (Three of a Kind, Sixes)
(Pre 55%, Flop 83%, Turn 91%)

MP wins 195 BB

I thought villain was pretty aggressive and wanted to bring his money in with a hand like AJ+ However, as played I am not beating many hands besides Ax hands that call on the flop. The question is if a x-raise on the flop would have been a better idea, since I do not really have to protect my hand in that spot.

Not requested, but I thought I'd start off with a quick breakdown of my database and look at the impact of cbetting.
When I cbet, 73% of the time, I make a profit of 226 bb/100. When I don't cbet, 27% of the time I make a loss of 11.6 bb/100. That's quite a dramatic difference.
My cbets win the hand immediately 47% of the time.

So, lets pick out 3 hands - I'm looking for 1 hand where I flop a monster, 1 hand where I flop top pair good kicker and 1 hand where I flop nothing. (and I'm going to add a 4th - a hand where I flop a good draw)

Hand 1 - The monster

What information do I have on villain? My HUD only has 21 hands, and I have him as 33/10. He's only faced 1 cbet before and he folded to that. He has never raised against a missed cbet (3 opportunities).
In the event it is a bit of a cooler for him - the money's all going in no matter what - but what's the best way of getting paid off in general - cbet or no cbet? I think its pretty clear not to cbet, to give your opponent time to catch up and make something. We know he doesn't have a Jack, so there aren't many hands he can call a cbet with.....

Hand 2 - Top Pair, Good kicker

Information on villain .... only 18 hands in my HUD - he's loose passive for that (playing 39/0). His fold to flop cbet stat is 50% (1 from 2 opportunities)

Hand 3 - Nothing

I fired 1 cbet, and then shut down. My nothing showed down better than his nothing
Information on villain - just 6 hands history and playing 50/17.

Hand 4 - Strong draw

This hand has some added factors - Btn steal v SB and deep effective stacks.
A bit more information on villain this time - I have 553 hands history over which he's played 26/20. His steal from the BTN is 40% (from 43 opportunities). His fold to cbet is 56%.

EDIT - An area where I know that I struggle with Cbetting is based on flop texture. If I am the pre flop raiser, and the flop comes down, for example, 3 broadway cards, then I want to bet to continue to represent the pre flop strength that I showed by raising, but I believe that conventional wisdom is not to cbet this kind of flop (when you miss) because its the kind of flop your opponent is likely to have hit. When I've examined my database previously though for cbet success rate based on flop texture, I've been unable to find any evidence that cbetting this kind of flop is any less successful than cbetting, for example a 852 rainbow flop.
Another area of struggle for me as well, compared to conventional wisdom is in multiway pots. If I miss the flop, then I have the perception that a cbet against 2 opponents is more likely to be successful than a cbet against 1 opponent. Whilst I understand that I am playing double the number of holecards and so they are twice as likely to have hit - I also find that my cbet is far more likely to be respected in a multiway pot than a HU pot.
I should have picked hands with this kind of example instead ..... I'll add a couple more hands to illustrate these examples I think (I understand that you only asked for 3 hands per person, so I fully expect you not to go through all 6 hands I'm posting).

Hand 5 - Low hole cards, high flop

I have 130 hands on villain and he's playing 24/16. His fold to flop cbet is 100% (4 hands)

Hand 6 - 3 way pot

I only have 2 hands history on CO and 3 hands history on BB

To back up my hypothesis a little bit (with small sample size!!) - looking at my August database:
When Flop Continuation Bet Possible = True AND Flop Continuation Bet Made AND Players on Flop = 3
...then over 60 hands I'm showing a profit of 648 bb/100
however
When Flop Continuation Bet Possible = True AND Flop Continuation Bet Made AND Players on Flop = 2
...then over 577 hands I'm showing a profit of 110 bb/100

If anyone else can tell me what they see in their database as well, then that would be great (Just expanded my db to the full year - 3 handed shows a profit of 387 bb/100 from 592 hands whilst 2 handed shows a profit of 200 bb/100 over 3,442 hands - less pronounced, but still there....)

Hi!

(This isn't a cbet, since MP donks in MWpot, is it? But I'm posting the hand anyway, because I just realized my mistake, when the following was already written :-))
MW 4betpot, flop doesn't help BBs range that much (I gave him JJ+, AKs, maybe AQs, including slowplayed AA some percentage of the time).
I can't just call MPs bet, since I thought my hand was ahead most of the time but a vulnerable one and BB looked somewhat fishy over 53 hands. When he plays AA this way all the time and folds at least some of his QQ and AsKs, AsQs here, then I'm isolating myself, if it is more of the opposite, the play would be good, which was what I thought in the hand. Session was C-game mostly and I'm not sure, if thought process was optimal.

Now to cbetting:

BB was 48/35 over 41 hands, aggro and often 3betting.
Flop: Coud have bet bigger, Flop is not that dry; vs. BB's raise it's a call here imo. C/r myself would also have been an option here vs this guy?
Turn: hits his range well, but he missed out on the bet after his c/r, so.... My Intention was avoiding a nother c/r and calling blanks on the river vs bets below 90% pot, which I did.

Full Tilt Poker $25.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players

BTN: $25.20 - VPIP: 18, PFR: 13, 3B: 3, AF: 2,3, Hands: 68
SB: $43.20 - VPIP: 34, PFR: 17, 3B: 6, AF: 1,2, Hands: 87
BB: $25.10 - VPIP: 46, PFR: 34, 3B: 23, AF: 7,0, Hands: 41
Hero (UTG): $25.00
MP: $51.32 - VPIP: 23, PFR: 19, 3B: 7, AF: 1,5, Hands: 186
CO: $28.89 - VPIP: 21, PFR: 11, 3B: 0, AF: 1,0, Hands: 19

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG with K K
Hero raises to $0.55, 4 folds, BB calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.20) 5 J 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.60, BB raises to $1.20, Hero calls $0.60

Turn: ($3.60) Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($3.60) 4 (2 players)
BB bets $2.15, Hero calls $2.15

Originally posted by 8runo
An area where I know that I struggle with Cbetting is based on flop texture. If I am the pre flop raiser, and the flop comes down, for example, 3 broadway cards, then I want to bet to continue to represent the pre flop strength that I showed by raising, but I believe that conventional wisdom is not to cbet this kind of flop (when you miss) because its the kind of flop your opponent is likely to have hit. When I've examined my database previously though for cbet success rate based on flop texture, I've been unable to find any evidence that cbetting this kind of flop is any less successful than cbetting, for example a 852 rainbow flop.

A little more evidence to back up my hypothesis is below. Basically I've looked at cbet success rates from my database on hands played this year where there is a high card flop. There seems to be a clear trend that the cbet is more likely to be successful on a high card cbet than on a low card cbet.

hi w34z3l,

I was wondering could you please in time make some video on topic playing against shorts? I think that for limits 50+ there are some of solid short stack strategy players and I cant find any materials on this topics or if you know some materials could you recommend some?

I have a similar request as Tyradiel how to adjust especially our PF strategy vs people with shallow stack - not only people playing SSS but I often play against people who are not completely whale but play with less than 100bb. I often have problem that I don´t want to play speculative hands preflop (because don´t have enough implied odds) so I play too tight vs their open. Also have a big problem with 3beting/defend vs 3bet vs these types.

I'm in

All hands @ 25nl PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Cold 4B spot

BTN: 73.56 BB (VPIP: 43.75, PFR: 31.25, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 17)
SB: 124.88 BB (VPIP: 17.54, PFR: 12.28, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 60)
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 136.32 BB (VPIP: 14.47, PFR: 13.21, 3Bet Preflop: 10.96, Hands: 166)
MP: 36.2 BB (VPIP: 30.30, PFR: 12.12, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 33)
CO: 113.24 BB (VPIP: 12.99, PFR: 10.39, 3Bet Preflop: 3.03, Hands: 79)

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K♠ A♠

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, BTN raises to 9 BB, fold, Hero raises to 22 BB, fold, BTN calls 13 BB

Flop: (47.4 BB, 2 players) J♦ 5♠ 7♣
Hero......

making second pair 4b - not sure if i really have showdown here but i don't want to bet call...

BTN: 103.36 BB (VPIP: 28.36, PFR: 20.90, 3Bet Preflop: 10.71, Hands: 70)
SB: 100.4 BB (VPIP: 26.09, PFR: 18.48, 3Bet Preflop: 11.11, Hands: 92)
BB: 99.6 BB (VPIP: 21.43, PFR: 14.29, 3Bet Preflop: 12.50, Hands: 14)
UTG: 193.8 BB (VPIP: 15.38, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 13)
MP: 136.6 BB (VPIP: 24.14, PFR: 20.69, 3Bet Preflop: 14.89, Hands: 121)
Hero (CO): 101.4 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♣ 4♣

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, fold, fold, BB raises to 8 BB, Hero raises to 19 BB, BB calls 11 BB

Flop: (38.4 BB, 2 players) 8♥ 3♠ 4♠
BB checks, Hero checks

3bet offsuit BW OOP - feel like not sure if i'm cbetting too much AQo,AKo or how i should be proceeding with the offsuits that don't flop the backdoor FD's

BTN: 51.64 BB (VPIP: 10.00, PFR: 6.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 31)
SB: 454.68 BB (VPIP: 22.42, PFR: 15.87, 3Bet Preflop: 8.61, Hands: 514)
BB: 302.24 BB (VPIP: 7.69, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 16)
UTG: 152 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 8.70, Hands: 58)
MP: 100 BB
Hero (CO): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♦ Q♣

fold, MP raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 7.2 BB, fold, fold, fold, MP calls 5.2 BB

Flop: (15.8 BB, 2 players) J♠ 6♣ 5♣
MP checks, Hero bets 7.68 BB, MP calls 7.68 BB

Turn: (31.16 BB, 2 players) J♥
MP checks, Hero checks?

Turn cbetting

think villian can have some draws and Qx here and hands like JT, T9 and I wanted to try some spots to x/r turn OOP. Perhaps ranges are too tight here though because he has AQ & QQ in his range and it might be better CO vs BTN?? If not what hands could we do it with?

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

BTN: 103.72 BB (VPIP: 28.02, PFR: 20.77, 3Bet Preflop: 10.71, Hands: 213)
SB: 115.48 BB (VPIP: 18.76, PFR: 14.33, 3Bet Preflop: 6.55, Hands: 696)
BB: 336 BB (VPIP: 9.09, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
Hero (UTG): 101.8 BB
MP: 105.4 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
CO: 242.96 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 50.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K♠ A♣

Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, CO calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (7.4 BB, 2 players) Q♦ A♦ 8♠
Hero bets 4.6 BB, CO calls 4.6 BB

Turn: (16.6 BB, 2 players) 4♣
Hero checks, CO bets 9 BB, Hero raises to 28 BB, fold
Hero wins 33.04 BB

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

since the flush draw busted, we don't block any clubs & villians range is capped because he 3bets QQ/KK pre i decided to tripple and overbet riv? I cbet the turn he still has hands like QJ,AQ,ATs - not sure if I should just x/f flop here?

BTN: 137.2 BB (VPIP: 23.43, PFR: 17.43, 3Bet Preflop: 6.04, Hands: 352)
SB: 126.16 BB (VPIP: 18.75, PFR: 16.25, 3Bet Preflop: 10.71, Hands: 85)
BB: 95.84 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)
UTG: 144.92 BB (VPIP: 28.57, PFR: 21.43, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 16)
MP: 100.2 BB (VPIP: 23.58, PFR: 19.51, 3Bet Preflop: 8.99, Hands: 254)
Hero (CO): 100 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has J♦ T♥

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.48 BB, BTN calls 2.48 BB, fold, BB calls 1.48 BB

Flop: (7.84 BB, 3 players) K♠ Q♣ 6♣
BB checks, Hero bets 3.8 BB, BTN calls 3.8 BB, fold

Turn: (15.44 BB, 2 players) 2♥
Hero bets 9.56 BB, BTN calls 9.56 BB

River: (34.56 BB, 2 players) 4♠
Hero bets 40 BB

Hi!
Cbetting the turn

Clear case of poor betsizing, imo. On the turn im definitely too low. I'm choosing to give all the that came along the perfect prize to call. Think I didn't memorize the clarkmeister theorem well enough. Despite that I know now it applies more on the river, I still think this would a good place for a bet with a 3/4 pot size considering that a lot of weaker could fold here + the 4 nut outs.

Originally posted by sftpn
memorize the clarkmeister theorem well enough. Despite that I know now it applies more on the river, I still think this would a good place for a bet with a 3/4 pot size considering that a lot of weaker could fold here + the 4 nut outs.

clarkmeister is about bluffing the river, i'm sure we have worse showdown value hand than two pairs to turn into a bluff and not sure villian will fold his Tx flush, i would check back the turn and see a free showdown as we don't need to try and bluff him off a flush

Hi w34z3l,

first of all I would like to join the academy. Is it still possible?
Furthermore I would like to ask if the latest coachings will be available in the video section any time soon? Or will coachings only be available live?