$1-3 NL – CLP Hand Analysis

I think you ranged villain a bit too tight. A lot of suited broadway hands will raise pre and continue on the flop. Being the pre-flop raiser it’s easy to represent and ace or a king, whether you have it or not.

Couldn’t the villain have QTs, QJs, JTs, 89s, etc.? The caller said he’s seen the villain show up with some questionable hands, so you have to give the villain a wider range, even if he’s raising. I’ve seen some guys open some really questionable hands, and I know I will open a lot of suited connectors to take charge of the hand.

On the flop, I don’t think you quite narrow the hands down right. Why would someone bet pot if they flopped a set of kings on that board? Or had AA or AK? It’s not unheard of, but generally even a bad player understands they want value from their really strong hands.

On the turn, this is a close call to me. The caller’s hand is strong, and sometimes you have to make these calls even if you lose sometimes. But like Bart said, most players are checking the river, so it should be the last bit of money that goes into this pot.

One of the problems with watching video’s from guys like Brad or Andrew is they are playing higher stakes than we are playing, and therefore are playing against better and more thinking players. At 1/3, there are smart and thinking players, but there are often guys that just do crazy things (like the villain in this hand) and we have to take into account that we will run into these types of players. You can’t always give players the benefit that they are thinking players.

I’ve learned a lot from Bart’s videos, but two of the biggest things are 1. I was overestimating players abilities (thought most of them were thinking players when that’s obviously not the case), and 2. sometimes you have to put money in the pot knowing you will lose.

I’m not saying Brad and Andrew’s videos aren’t useful – they really are. They teach a lot of useful things like how to bet and when to bet. They also have things we can learn about what opponents do in certain situations. You just have to be careful when they talk about the more advanced strategies (and the strategies of their opponents) because that is above the skills of the vast majority of 1/3 players, so when you do things like that it’s lost in the game and you can level yourself. I’m talking about stuff like a balanced range (it’s important to balance your range, but not to the level they do), bluffing frequency, etc. You have to be careful thinking about blockers when your opponent has no clue what that concept even is. Stuff like that. You can be 100% successful at 1/3 and even 3/5 by not having 3 and 4-bet bluffs in your range.

Constructing a pre-flop range is can be difficult to do, and it really depends on the villain. Unless you have a super-tight old man coffee, or just a loose passive fish, most people who raise will have suited broadway in their raising range. The looser/more aggressive the player, the wide the range, and the more middle to low pocket pairs you include, lower suited connectors, more semi-connectors, etc. That’s why I ranged this player wider.

In this case, when you call with KQ and this flop comes, I don’t think you have ever fold. You hit about as well as you can hit, if you’re not calling here then why are you calling pre-flop? I know you would call this flop, but that’s something to keep in mind – if you’re calling pre-flop how much do you have to hit a flop to continue.

Then you need to look at the villain’s c-bet range and frequency. I think a lot of guys will continue betting (and betting strong) with QQ, JJ, TT, etc. So you have to take stuff like that into consideration. The villain here was just out of line with his betting (and the hand he had).

I don’t take notes on players. My poker room is big enough that I see repeat opponents, but often I’m at a table with mostly players I’ve never seen before. I generally look at a few different things when I’m figuring out players:
1. Are they tight, loose, somewhere in the middle?
2. Do they like to gamble or are they nitty, or somewhere in the middle?
3. Do they seem competent or have no clue what’s going on? Do they understand position? How to steal? Do they play pots differently heads-up vs. multiway? Etc.
4. What is their C-bet frequency? And what is their continue on the flop frequency when I’m the raiser and I c-bet?
5. Are they paying attention? Are they on their phone? Does the dealer constantly have to remind them it’s their turn or to put their blinds in?
6. There are also some stereotypes that I look at. Are they old (60+)? Generally a tight nitty player. Are they young? Generally loose and lots of action. Do they seem really wealthy (and brag about all the money they make or how they make XXX amount in an afternoon so this money means nothing to them? Generally lots of action. Female players are generally play tight. There’s stereotypes of Asians (specifically young Asians) are very loose and aggressive.
7. Are they winning a lot or losing a lot? On tilt? On a heater?

I put all of that together with the actions that I see at the table and you create an image for that player. And it keeps changing, and players will play different depending on their mood. Are they laughing and joking or are they swearing under their breath? Sure, you can take notes on specific players, but you don’t always see them at the table so you have to be able to be able to make reads on players on the spot. Granted, this isn’t always accurate, but it’s how I slowly build up info on players that I probably have never seen before and may never see again.

I haven’t posted my hands much lately for a few reasons. I don’t get a chance to play much, mainly. Last few times I did, I just didn’t run into too many interesting spots. The one session I did, the session turned into an 8 hour session. I didn’t take notes during, and by the end I only remember vague details and didn’t remember positions, chip stacks, bets sizes, etc., so I didn’t think it was right to post incomplete hands where the action is wrong. I know I need to take better notes of those hands, but Brad mentioned something in one of his vlogs – it’s hard to play at your best and take accurate notes, and I really agree with that. It’s one thing if you play a hand then sit out for fold a bunch of hands right after it, but if you’re getting good cards it’s hard to be accurate.