Another quickie...

I played for 48 minutes with just two tables as I was data-mining and watching Allen Cunningham play 5000nl. He is a very good tournament player and just wanted to watch his cash game play. He had a solid session winning $6706 in 44 minutes of play.

Playing 50nl, where I am and playing 5000nl, where he is are two different games requiring an adjustment by the player 5000 nl is a much more aggressive game, especially preflop, with many hands being 3 bet with the occasional 4 bet. 50nl is usually a more passive game, which is good for better or aggressive players. Most 3-bets preflop equal a big hand (AA, AK, KK, QQ)Passive players tend not get any value out of their big hands or good hands, as they continually call not knowing where they stand in the hand. Most of the time they are ahead and miss bets which equals losing money. Aggressive players on the other hand always put pressure on other players by betting and raising...very rarely calling. Betting and raising gives you the extra opportunity of winning by making your oponent fold his hand.

In NLHE raising the proper amount is a vital part of the game. No matter what we hold, before the flop, after the flop or after the turn, players can catch up to our hand by the river. WHich means we must protect our hands by betting/raising giving other players poor odds to chase their hand to the river. This is what we call a (+EV) situation, where players continually put their money in the pot when they don't have proper odds to do so. +EV = positive expected value or longterm we will win money if this situatuion arises and we play it in this manner.

How can we compute our opponents odds...first we must have a range of hands to put our opponent on. This is much easier to do in the low limit games, typically because players again call too much. But using the hand below, I have raised PF (Preflop) with TT and get one caller. I flop a set of tens (3 of a kind) which is a very strong hand, but the board is very draw heavy and I must make opponents pay heavily in order to see the cards yet to come on the turn and river. It is draw heavy because any spade is a scare card, any 7,8,J or Q make a straight which means an opponents odds to possibly win this hand are greatly increased. Again I'm not trying to bet him out, just giving bad odds to play this hand against me...longterm I win money if I play it this way.

He makes a minimum size bet leading out after the flop (please don't do this!!!) which tells me he is drawing probably just to the flush...so I raise it to $8 which mean it will cost him $7.50 to win the $13.75 currently in the pot (1.83/1) or he must win 35.3% of hands in this situation. I know at best he has 8 outs because I have one in my hand if he is on the flush draw. 8 cards ~ 32% to win with the turn and river to come. (His odds are actually lower because I would have a redraw if he were to make his hand on the turn) He is not getting proper odds and should fold unless he believes he has more than 8 outs, and many players would do this, again especially at the lower limits.

If he did hold a hand with a straight and flush draw (QsJs), most good players are going to get all their money in the middle, typically they would be at worst 50/50 and ahead many times. I have one of the few hands where they would be an underdog of 60/40. Again, if they play all their hands with straight and flush draws aggresively, betting/raising and not calling, this is again +EV. Many times our opponent folds which = 100% win rate, they do call and we are 50%+ favorite to win or the few times they are 40/60 dog to a set. All hands combined together long-term in this situation is +EV. Yes, we will lose some big pots...but we will win more than our share too.


FullTiltPoker Game #4362773577: Table Rhoda (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:51:34 ET - 2007/12/01
Seat 1: PlusBank ($59.40)
Seat 2: ted 714 ($69.05)
Seat 3: birdiemachine ($112)
Seat 4: Bannana Thief ($49.50)
Seat 5: steven bates ($103.15)
Seat 6: shizzle102 ($44)
Bannana Thief posts the small blind of $0.25
steven bates posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to birdiemachine [Ts Td]
shizzle102 folds
PlusBank folds
ted 714 calls $0.50
birdiemachine raises to $2.25
Bannana Thief folds
steven bates folds
ted 714 calls $1.75
*** FLOP *** [Th 9s 4s]
ted 714 bets $0.50
birdiemachine raises to $8
ted 714 calls $7.50
*** TURN *** [Th 9s 4s] [7d]
ted 714 checks
birdiemachine has 15 seconds left to act
birdiemachine bets $25
ted 714 folds
Uncalled bet of $25 returned to birdiemachine
birdiemachine mucks
birdiemachine wins the pot ($20.20)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $21.25 Rake $1.05
Board: [Th 9s 4s 7d]
Seat 1: PlusBank didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: ted 714 folded on the Turn
Seat 3: birdiemachine (button) collected ($20.20), mucked
Seat 4: Bannana Thief (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: steven bates (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: shizzle102 didn't bet (folded)

Here is an example of a player making a -EV play with a good hand against a draw heavy board:

FullTiltPoker Game #4790221196: Table Posse (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:08:37 ET - 2008/01/08
Seat 1: IJackit ($124)
Seat 2: Hero ln Black ($61.20)
Seat 3: dwbh28 ($58.50)
Seat 4: birdiemachine ($50)
Seat 5: vanGuar ($49.95)
Seat 6: Alarum ($48.75)
IJackit posts the small blind of $0.25
Hero ln Black posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to birdiemachine [Qh Jh]
dwbh28 folds
birdiemachine raises to $1.75
vanGuar raises to $4 ------ too weak, should be $6-7
Alarum calls $4 -----allows him to call prob with low to mid pocket pair(PP) (22~99)
IJackit folds
Hero ln Black calls $3.50 ------another caller with odds
birdiemachine calls $2.25 ----- I have the odds to call with any two now ($2.25 to win $14)
*** FLOP *** [6h 4h 8s]
Hero ln Black checks
birdiemachine checks
vanGuar bets $8 - awful bet...Pot=$16.25 should have bet $14-16 here
Alarum calls $8 bad bet = call here( prob put original raiser on AK)
Hero ln Black folds
birdiemachine calls $8 ----again $8 to win $32 (just need 20% chance for call)
*** TURN *** [6h 4h 8s] [7h] --------BINGO!!!!
birdiemachine checks
vanGuar bets $37.95, and is all in -----Overbet is not usually a sign of strength...I'm likely ahead
Alarum folds
birdiemachine calls $37.95
vanGuar shows [Kh Ks] ----He has King high flush draw, so I must fade 8 hearts to win
birdiemachine shows [Qh Jh]
*** RIVER *** [6h 4h 8s 7h] [4s] ------- Donk, I win!!!!
Alarum adds $13.25
vanGuar shows two pair, Kings and Fours
birdiemachine shows a flush, Queen high
birdiemachine wins the pot ($113.15) with a flush, Queen high
vanGuar is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $116.15 Rake $3
Board: [6h 4h 8s 7h 4s]
Seat 1: IJackit (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Hero ln Black (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: dwbh28 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: birdiemachine showed [Qh Jh] and won ($113.15) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 5: vanGuar showed [Kh Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Fours
Seat 6: Alarum (button) folded on the Turn





Time for bed....+$59.30 tonight for 138 hands
42.97bb/100 hands --- Bankroll = $4146.20