My Ferguson Challenge

Originally Posted by PJfan10

Shoot.... I forgot to mention on my previous message. MadMojoMonkey, BTN vs Blinds. You mean Button VS Blinds. I'm I correct

I've learned limping on the button with A suited or A paint is not worth it. You have to raise because the SB or BB will have random hands. You can hit your A and bet into the hand and the blinds can beat you with 2 pair. With the raise I can remove some of the junk hands and put the blinds better qualify cards like connected cards, suited cards, small pair or paint. Thats my 2 cents at least.

BTN = Button, yes.

BTV v Blinds is a term which means that at the start of the hand, it was folded to the BTN. The BTN does not fold.

The BTN knows that he has position for the rest of the hand, and that he has a pretty good chance of getting both the SB and BB to fold right now. BTN responds by opening a much wider range of hands than usual (maybe as much as double the %-age of hands he would play if it was folded to him in the CO). The blinds know (by popular perception) that the BTN should be doing this, according to game theory analysis. The blinds also have dead money in the pot already, which gives them better pot odds against the BTN raise.

So the blinds respond by playing a much wider range as well, and 3-betting much wider. The BTN now has dead money in the pot, and faces a 3-bet that represents a wide range.

See how this dynamic starts out simple with the BTN opening a very wide range, based on position. Then it snowballs into playing big 3-bet and 4-bet+ pots with medium-strong hands if the blinds respond correctly?

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OMG, yeah, never limp when it's folded to you on the BTN. NEVER.
On Bovada, I usually open raise 4x + 1 BB for each limper. Except when it's folded to me on the BTN, I standard open 3x.
My reduced open size is exactly because the blinds are expected to 3-bet wide, and I can call more hands IP if their 3-bet is a bit smaller.

Hi All,

Great week last week. I started the day up another $11 I'm trying to keep a cool head as it's only been 2 weeks playing online and I'm sure I will have some volitility in the coming days and weeks ahead.

Keith, I will look up free HUD sites and 888 snap poker hud. My fear is getting some virus or spyware on my computer. I will ask other friend if they have any of the software. It would be nice to see how it works.

MadMojoMonkey, thank you for the great explaination. I'm learning quickly the importance of the button when I play. I feel pre-flop and post flop I'm OK. I play a lot of zoom poker on pokerstars that I get nervous when someone re-raises me and I'm out of position. A lot of players playing bingo hands that happen to hit. I've already lost 2 all in pre-flop with AA. I don't feel bad losing an all in pre-flop with AA because I know I went in with the best hand.