1. Making better hands
fold
I. When you raise a marginal hand (78s)
in later position to make the blinds fold
a. In NLHE your earning goes by an hourly win rate.
More blinds you steal the higher your win rate
b. You are raising hands like suited connectors
and suited As against tight players
-They are out of position and will be playing stronger
hands like KQ and AJ so when you make a hand like a straight or
a flush you are getting their stack when they make top pair top
kicker type hands
c. You are raising hands like KT, QT, K9, etc against
weaker players you think will call with worse single broad way
hand like K7, K8, Q8 etc
-You get a lot of value against these players by
them giving you one to two streets of value when you have them
out kicked
II. When you 3-bet someone simply because
you think they are weak
a. Defending your blinds
- If there is someone who is consistently stealing on your big
blind 3-betting them with marginal hands that have the possibility
to play well on the flop like 67s that can make a big hand like
a flush or a straight. You want to raise with hands that will
be easier for you to play when you do get called
b. Floating
-Floating is when you call someone's raise preflop and flop bet
with the intention of betting to take the pot away on a later
street. You can do this to someone you know continuation bets
a lot
c. You have a read a player is weak
-Betting pattern reads will help here. If the person is the type
to bet smaller/larger with weak hands and do the opposite with
good then you can 3-bet just to take it down.
- When you are the preflop raiser and are in position,
you should always raise your opponent when they lead weak into
you
2. Value bet-betting when you think
you have the best hand and your opponent will call your bet
I. You think your opponent will call down
with 2nd pair so you bet just enough to keep them in the game
When you raise medium aces like A8 on the button you
are trying to get 2 streets of value.
-Bet the flop, check the turn and bet the river.
This is a good way to get value.
II. You think it's likely that your opponent
is on a draw
You can bet draw heavy boards with medium holdings (typical
value betting)
to get value from an opponent trying to make a draw.
-A good line for this is called "Bet, Bet,
Bluff Catcher". You bet the flop and turn when you're out
of position and then check the river when the draw misses intending
to call a reasonable bet. Since you are not betting when you think
you have the best hand you are losing value, but you save yourself
more in the long run when your second pair is not good.
III. Betting when you have a good hand and
you don't think your opponent will fold
This is the part of the game when you have a great hand
and you think your opponent has one they really like too. You
want to appropriate your bet sizes on the flop and turn so that
an all-in bet on the river isn't too much more than full pot.
- At $.05/$.10 you and your opponent have $10. You
make a standard raise and get called. There is about $.85 in the
pot. You would then bet around $.7 to $.75. With your bet and
your opponent's call there would be around $2.30 in the pot. You
would then bet around $2 on the turn making the pot $6.3. You've
both put in around $4 leaving you with $6, so an all in is just
about a full pot bet.
3. Betting to take the pot down
I. Continuation bet
This will be your bread and butter. What makes up a large
part of your income are hands when you just take down the blinds
and hands when you raise and take the pot down on the flop with
a continuation
bet. The less draw heavy the board, the better to continuation
bet.
II. Stab bet
When your opponent is showing weakness by checking, you
bet to make them fold.
-You will do this a lot in the big blind. When the
small blind limps and you have a bad hand that you have to check,
if they check it to you on any board you should bet at it just
to take it down. If your opponent shows resistance you can easily
lay it down without losing much.
III. Opponent has given up
a. If an opponent checks quickly for multiple streets
when the dynamics of the board don't change they have usually
given up.
b. The instant-check is when a player checks the
fold to any bet button.
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