cyclist52

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?
The motivation was to learn about something I knew virtually nothing about (other than seeing it on TV), to learn enough to be able to play and enjoy the game without losing, and hopefully to eventually get good enough to supplement my income.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?
I cbet too often in the flop.
I am likely too timid in the face of aggression. I also lack confidence especially in my ability to read other players. I don't like losing money, although my background let's me avoid tilt when I made the right play but the villian sucked out.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive?
It means playing only good hands using careful position based hand selection and betting aggressively when playing a hand.

Hey Cyclist52,

Welcome to the NL Beginners Course

Hope you are enjoying your retirement and I hope you enjoy the course and material that's on offer.

I'm sure it won't be long before your hard work and dedication shows fruition at the tables.

I wish you every success,

Gary

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than how it is in the BSS Starting Hands Chart, and why?
There are likely many differences, but one example would be to steal blinds with a wider range of hands than indicated in the SHC against very tight opponents. Although folding these hands is not a losing play, the gain from the times they fold pre-flop or to the in position cbet is greater than the loss from the (rare) times that such opponents re-steal.

Question 2: Post a hand for evaluation where you have a question regarding your pre-flop play.
Here is the link:
KQs on BU

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means: 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo?

46.3% equilator or pokerstove (I forget which I used) says

equity....win....tie
46.324% 37.92% 08.41% { AKo }
53.676% 45.27% 08.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Good job! Homework #1 Done!

Most of the weakness you wrote can easily be fixed with you posting hands (analyzing your session). We will start writing feedback to your play. Usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you loose money, you will remember it more than winning part. By this situation it's gonna be that negative feedback you gonna remember and try to avoid them next time.

Confidence is a question of experience. The more hands you have analyzed the more hands you have played the more confident you will get in your play. So don't worry about that so much but rather concentrate on your learning part and don't forget analyzing your game which is the most important aspect for beginners. Obviously not only for beginners but for high level players as well, you will never stop learning in poker.

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck. Some more points earned.

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

Totally agree with you about the stealing ranges. They can be very easily be balanced with even wider range. Depending on the opponent you can as well put a wider stealing range. Against some shorties you can even steal with smaller raise. But don't overdo the stealing situations. Sometimes you might just put yourself into too many difficult spots if opening with marginal hands.

Hopefully you enjoy the School so far. Some more points earned.

Question 0: Download and install the Equilab. ---- Done

Question 1: You are holding KsQs. What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3d3c? --- 50.78%

How does the equity change on this flop: Js5d3s?
It is reduced to 26.46%. Even though you hit your flush about 36% of the time (rule of 4), your opponent completes his full house or quads often enough to reduce your equity. Your chances for the various runner runner ways that you have to win , KK or AT for example don't contribute much to your equity after this flop.

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand?
No Limit hold'em $2 (9-handed)
Players and stacks:
UTG: $2.00
UTG+1: $2.08
MP1: $1.92
MP2: $1.00
MP3: $3.06
CO: (Hero) $2.08
BU: $2.00
SB: $2.00
BB: $1.24
Preflop: Hero is CO with Ac Jc
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, BU calls $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06.
Flop: ($0.25) 2c6d3d (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BU checks.
Turn: ($0.25) 5c (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BU raises to $0.44, BB folds, Hero...?

Call. We need to put $0.22 in to win $0.91 so we getting the 4:1 required for a flush draw. We may even get more on the river if we hit.

Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.
Here is the link:
Probe bet in limped pot?

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have the initiative post-flop.
Here is the link:
Conti bet here?

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members.
Here is the link:
Equity

Question 3: You are on the flop with KsQd. The board cards are Js, 9c, 8h, and your opponent holds 7c7h. What is your equity in this spot?
41.41%

------------ Equity Win -- Tie
hero-------- 41.41% 41.41% 0.00% KsQd
villian----- 58.59% 58.59% 0.00% 7h7c

Good job! Homework #3 Done!

About Question #1:
Preflop Equity:

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    50.78%  50.40%   0.38% { KsQs }
UTG+1  49.22%  48.84%   0.38% { 3d3c }

Postflop Equity:

Board: J♠5♦3♠
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    26.46%  26.46%   0.00% { KsQs }
UTG+1  73.54%  73.54%   0.00% { 3d3c }

About Question #3:
There are few situations on turn:
a) If we take just odds for the FD and we take into account that all our odds are clean. There which means:
Total Pot = $0,91 ; We have to Call = $0,22 -> According to that it means we are getting ~4,16:1 odds. For flushdraw we would need 4:1. Which tells us that we are getting perfect odds.
b) If we consider the opponent having sets here:
Which means we have to discount outs, for example 6:c and also 3:c. Which means we have 7 clean outs. Which means that we need 6:1 odds. That tells us that we need ~$0,41 on river to make it profitable. If we expect the opponent being loose enough and being able to pay us no-matter what then we can do the Call here properly.
c) We might even have overcards as outs or even 4 as a out:
Although this kind of situation ain't that likely. I'd rather discount that one and either pick a) or b). Most likely towards Call.

You are doing great progress! Some more points earned.

Good job! Homework #4 Done!

This weeks homework was a bit easier. But the idea of that is to help you go through last weeks stuff if you didn't go through everything. Or either way maybe even read some more articles, watch some videos and of course attend in the coaching. What will also help for your game is the evaluation part of other members hands and of course posting your own hands.

If you have interests you could try calculating the equity with a formula which you can use even on tables(either playing online or live poker):
(Amount of outs x 4) – (Amount of outs – 8) = Your Equity

About Question #3:

Board: J♠9♣8♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KsQd }
UTG+1  58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 7h7c }

Hopefully this wasn't too easy homework for you. Some more points earned.

Originally posted by veriz
<snip>
If you have interests you could try calculating the equity with a formula which you can use even on tables(either playing online or live poker):
(Amount of outs x 4) – (Amount of outs – 8) = Your Equity

<snip>

Do you have link to any articles or other discussion of this formula??

Doesn't it simplify to 3xouts +8???

Is this on the flop??? The number of cards to come obviously has an influence.

Do you have link to any articles or other discussion of this formula??

Unfortunately nope. ♦ I guess there ain't even any articles in PokerStrategy. I just remember that kind of formula from very beginning which I have been using during the live poker when I started. ♦ Also there are even more such ones.

Doesn't it simplify to 3xouts +8???

Nah, I have doubt. It's most likely cause it will give you more exact number with the full formula.

Is this on the flop??? The number of cards to come obviously has an influence.

Yep, this is mainly on flop. Since on turn you have less equity and depending on the card maybe even less outs.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have based your decisions on the stats of your opponents.
Played a lot of sessions where the actual stats did not tip the decision one way or the other.
This hand involved two opponents with extremely diverse stats 90/0 and 13/13.
Here is the link: Get more from quads?

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members.
Here is the link:
NL4 77 vs AA right to shove when hit on Flop?

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (7 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($8)
MP2 ($9)
CO ($10)
Hero($10)
SB ($10) (17/13/2.6/24/1212) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
BB ($10) (27/9/2.0/29/333) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]

Preflop: Hero is BU with 6:d , 7:d
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20) 3:d , 3:h , T:d (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.20) J:d (3 players)
SB bets $1.00, BB calls $1.00, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?
SB is tight with average aggression, was not trying a resteal, and goes to showdown with good hands(WTS:24).
BB is looser and more passive but still gets to showdown with good hands (WTS:29).
In the past I would have knee jerk shoved here, but taking the stats into account I expect we are behind a full house or a better flush so we should probably fold and give up our small investment in this pot.

Question 4: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (8 handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($8)
MP ($10)
MP2 ($9)
MP3 ($6)
Hero ($10)
BU ($10) (25/21/3.8/26/1250) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
SB ($10)
BB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J:h , J:s
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU 3-bets to $1.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.30

Flop: ($2.75) 6:h , 9:s , T:c (2 players)
Hero...

What action would you take, and why?
BU is not really tight and so would 3bet over a CO raise preflop with a wider range than QQ+, AK, but with WTS=26 he is
only going to continue with good hands.

JJ is too good here for check/fold and too weak for check/raise. This would lead me to donk bet 1/2 pot since pot control is likely more important than protection on this board (BU likely didn't raise with QJ).

If he raises you can fold, if he folds you can smile, and if he calls, you will have another decision to make on the turn.

This would give more info at less/same cost as check/call pot control line.

Good Job! Homework #5 Done!

About Task #3
It's a very close decision: does protection or pot control weigh heavier here? Do you want to protect against hands like 3x or A:dx and K:dx? Or do you want to control the pot size and try to induce a bluff on the river in case there is no T, no J and no additional ♦?

Raise/fold is out of question - with the given pot size and the good made hand you have, it can't even be considered.

In case you decide to go broke, you can't really be blamed either. It's not a sign of weakness that the rather tight small blind decides to bet into two people here, though. I would say a call is to be slightly favored, while the many outs against you are annoying. The big blind who calls rather loosely speaks in favor of a raise/broke again. Both options are finally considered equal, which shows - all things considered - how close and full of variance these spots really are.

About Task #4
You've called pre-flop and then hit a good board. You basically have two choices now: either you assume that your opponent will go broke loosely or puts you on a bluff often and you thus check/raise - or you play check/call in the spirit of way ahead / way behind. The problem with the latter is that there are a lot of cards you don't want to see in the later course of the hand. All in all, it depends on your balancing as both lines make sense under certain circumstances.

A check/fold would be really pointless, of course. It's hard to say whether you should donk-bet here; donk/fold can be discarded as that would turn your hand into a pure bluff and your opponent would interpret this as weakness and start raising you out of flops with hands like AK/AQ/air. So, if you want to donk-bet, it has to be a donk/3-bet.

Good luck on tables and with the School. Some more points earned.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have either a) freeplay, b) slowplay, or c) multi-way pot situation.
trips in BB freeplay

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members.
AA nl10

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$25 NL Hold'em (10 handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
UTG+1 ($25) rock
UTG+2 ($25)
MP1 ($25)
MP2 ($25) LAG
MP3 ($25) maniac
CO ($25)
Hero BU ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25) calling station

Preflop: Hero is BU with Q:H: , J:h:
5 folds, MP3 raises $1.00, CO calls $1.00, Hero calls $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.10) 3:h: , J:c: , A:d: (4 players)
BB checks, MP3 checks, CO checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4.10) Q:c: (4 players)
BB bets $2.05, 2 folds, Hero...?

A calling station just got aggressive so there is no point in raising which leaves fold or call.

The station bet out so you can probably assume 2pr or better.

You only beat J3 which he would likely not have called pre flop so though it may be difficult .... fold.

Good Job! Homework #6 Done!

About Question #3:
Two lines can quickly be discarded here: fold and raise/fold; your hand is simply too strong for those alternatives.

It's hard to assess whether you should put in a raise here. When a rather passive player decides to bet into three players while being out of position, it does look strong. It's more likely an indication of a made hand than that of a draw.

A raise naturally protects, but you run the risk of isolating yourself against very strong range. Which weaker hands could your opponent possibly continue playing here?

The deciding factor finally comes in the size of the pot. This tiny pot simply isn't worth putting yourself into a tough spot where you could potentially end up risking your entire stack. A raise would be overplayed here and pot control takes the precedent over protection.

Best of Luck on the tables and with the Course. Some more points earned.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have played on a 6-max table (short-handed).
River value bet size nut straight?

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members
Aa Nl10 Fr

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB (Hero) ($10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5♥ , 4♥
2 folds, CO raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) 3♠ , 2♥ , Q♥ (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.20, CO Raises All-in, BU calls All-in, SB folds, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?
Chance of a better flush draw is very small.
You are drawing for the nut straight.
You are getting better than 2:1 pot odds
You have 15 outs
CAll

Question 4: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO (Hero) ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A♣ , K♠
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) A♠ , 4♣ , 4♦ (4 players)
SB checks, BB bets $1.20, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?
There is a 17% chance that one of the players behind you has a 4.
BB would make the bet with an A or a 4 or perhaps a pocket pair or possibly even air(how aggressive is he?)
Protection is not an issue on this board.
Two possible lines are
1)I would likely Raise -- a weaker Ace may call -- a reraise likely means he has a 4.
2) Call in the spirit of way ahead way behind and hope that the 2 players behind you come along.

Good Job! Homework #7 Done!

About Question #3:
In this case, you decided to bet out yourself and two players behind you go all-in. You would have to invest $8.40 in order to participate in a $22 pot, which corresponds to an equity of 27.63%.

Board: Q:h 3:s 2:h
Dead:

Equity Win DrawLoss Hand
Player 1: 38.538% 38.538% 0.000% 61.462% 5h4h
Player 2: 14.540% 14.540% 0.000% 85.460% QQ+
Player 3: 46.921% 46.921% 0.000% 53.079% 22-33

You get the required odds even when you're exclusively up against very strong hands!

About Question #4:
Top pair / top kicker has been and will always be a hand that's tough to play, especially in a multi-way pot. In this case, you've hit a nice flop, but you're up against 3 opponents on a dry board which doesn't allow for any dangerous draws.

A fold on this board is, of course, too weak. You can't really hit much better and there might be worse Ax hands willing to pay you off.

If you think that your opponent(s) is/are often willing to go broke on the flop with worse hands, raising might not be the worst of choices. But one thing is clear: if you raise, you have to go all-in on the flop! Raise/fold with your top pair is absolutely out of question.

Even though this might leave a bitter aftertaste in a 4-way pot, you should play this like a way ahead / way behind spot here - by playing it passive, you will extract the maximum from weaker hands and bluffs while avoiding big losses against stronger hands.

Best of Luck on the Tables. Some more points earned.

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation.
getting max value from quads

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members.
Nl2 Fr 99

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$100 NL Hold'em (9 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($100)
UTG+1 ($100)
MP1 ($100)
MP2 ($100)
Hero ($100)
CO ($100)
BU ($100)
SB ($100)
BB ($100) (18/15/3.7/23/732)[VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]

Preflop: Hero is BU with 8♥ , 9♥
4 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, 3 folds, BB calls $4.00

Flop: ($8.50) 3♥ , 6♥ , 8♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5.50 BB calls $5.50

Turn: ($19.50) J♥ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?
Bet pot. A set will stay with you and you want to protect against BB having a big heart.

BONUS Question 4 (optional question): Consider the following situation:

$200 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
MP2 (Hero) ($327.95)
MP3 ($207.45)
CO ($415.55) (TAG)
BU ($373.60) (TAG)
SB ($200.00)
BB ($218.00)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 7♥ , 8♥
Hero raises to $7, 1 folds, CO raises to $23, BU calls $23, SB folds, BB folds, Hero calls $16

Flop: ($72) 7♣ , 8♠ , 8♦ (3 players)
Hero checks, CO checks, BU bets $52, Hero calls, CO calls

Turn: ($228) K♦ (3 players)
Hero checks, CO checks, BU checks

River: ($228) Q♥ (3 players)
Hero bets $110, CO raises to $340.55 (All-in), BU folds, Hero?

What factors and concepts that you have learned so far would you use in evaluating this situation? What would your action be?

My initial reaction was snap call. I don't remember where I saw the quote but, "Nobody ever folds a fullhouse".
But let's think about it.

The 1st concept to consider is CO's 3bet range as a TAG in the CO at 6max.
---- probably JJ+,AK, and maybe AQs,KQs,99,TT in particular not 77

Then, how can the range be refined based on the post flop line.
The board is dry but potentially dangerous already so the flop check may have been for pot control.
While BU may have just been taking a stab at the pot our call tells CO that we caught a piece of it or have an overpair.
He is a TAG unlikely to continue with 2 over cards vs 2 opponents.
So his range is now at most 99+

The checked turn could be either slow play (QQ) or pot control (all the other over pairs).

His river bet suggests KK or QQ which has us beat. If he only had an over pair he would like to see a cheap flop and call.

Hero folds

(which is probably not what i would have done at the table but play NL1 so you can't give players quite as much credit as I am giving CO and perhaps I don't think enough at the table)

Good Job! Homework #8 Done!

About Question #3:
In this case, the right answer is quite obvious. Both AF and WTS speak in favor of a check behind for bluff induce. But your hand is too strong here, so you want to get it all-in on the turn. There are a lot of hands you still have to protect against, too. Playing for bluff induce or pot control would simply be too weak and dangerous.

About Question #4:
About preflop play I'd say that it's still doable while we even are a bit deeper. I expect the hero to play solid postflop play. So Calling is definitely fine here with having 2 opponents in the hand and getting great implied odds. But for more beginners it's deifnitely a very close spot while they ain't gonna be able to laydown weak hands.

As we have the information that CO is a TAG player. Therefore, we expect him to have a strong 3bet range. Unless we have some other information like he has a wide 3bet range. But while we don’t have that, we basically consider his range to be something QQ+, AK or sometimes even tighter.

So now you have to ask yourself what kind of hands would play like this on river? KK may slowplay like this. QQ definitely is as well in his range. AK/AA he wouldn’t play this way since he know himself as well that he isn’t going to get Called by worse hands. So basically it’s up to the nuts most often. You only beat bluff there and I don’t expect the opponent to bluff in this case unless we know the table dynamics better.

Best of Luck in The Exam! Some more points earned.