A poker Gods muchly condensed low/mid no limit guide
I almost changed my mind when I started to write this, because if you play like I do then I will make less if I play you. What lies within is simply the downgraded version of what you have all read in Super systems etc. Necessarily downgraded because you aren't playing 2000/4000 world class players, Doyles' theories are excellent but must be adapted to situations in which you are playing with much much worse players.
here are some ideas which mold into a solid theory/art:
-Preflop the worst shape you can be in is roughly a 4:1 dog.
-It is hard to hit a flop. In other words usually noone has anything great.
-Deception is an art most people go about decieving the wrong way. Everyone knows how to bluff and what bluffs look like. So make your
deceptions look like truth. This happens when you make your bluffs look like truths and you bet your made hands like bluffs or drawing bets.
-Don't get all your money in the pot on someone elses terms unless you have a good read. Get all the money in the pot on your terms.
those are just some general ideas but here is the meat eat it up if you want to grow strong.
Doyle talks about how he is always stabbing at pots and picking up small pots so that he can afford to take some gambles on large pots. In this way if he loses a large pot he is back to even but if he wins he is way up. In order to successfully stab and win pots you need to think creatively about deception. Don't be that idiot who reads super systems and goes in super aggressive making large bets at every pot. This is how I do it:
- say i'm the blind in an unraised pot with 4 people in and the flop is ragged. Stab! (when you stab here don't make the giant obvious please fold everyone bluff !) say the flop is 6 4 4 ill take a nice second (the timing is part of the art learn how to make the effective pause not too long) then pop (about half the pot size) this will usually win 2/3 to 3/4. If you have caller on the next card wait a nice second then pop about 3/4 the size of the pot. A fold here comes roughly 2/3 time. If not then evaluate your opponent and be ready to fold !
- Say a flop comes QQ4 and there are a few players well I want to represent the Q right !? well let me tell you betting big is not the way to do it. Not only that but what if someone does have a queen ? (remember it is unlikely anyone does) but I win this pot blind 4/5 times. cause I wait a nice second pop about half the pot. (this is deception brothers ! anyone who really had a queen would try to build the pot before waylaying it) I doubt youll get a call but say you do. wait a second Pop slightly more forcefully about 4/5 pot. If they call well evaluate the board and the person and bet again or fold but remember the key here is to win lots of small pots not to bluff people out of huge pots. (this works especially well in the small or large blinds especially if someone has raised slightly preflop you make a small bet and get a slight raise from the raiser then the choice is yours fold or reraise but ponder this: Say I have AQ and the flop comes QQ4 and the blind makes a small pop would I make a large reraise or just a slight raise or maybe even call? Well a bonehead would make the large reraise ! So are you playing a skilled player or a bonehead ? if your playing a skilled player he is likely to be making a large bet because he is scared... So either a fold or reraise or if you a skilled enough just a call with intent to make a healthy bluff on the turn is fine. Your opponent must be thinking what the hell would he call my reraise with ! ? either trip fours or trip queens is the only logical conclusion. You must know whether you are playing against the bonehead or the more skilled player however !!!!
- Stab when you have called from position and it is checked to you especially if there is an ace or king on the flop but be carefull if there are more than three players in the hand.. But you must make a small stab to medium sized stab here regardless. After all a vast majority of the time a check mean weakness.
- Stab at any pot you raised especially when you don't hit the flop. Not the stupid large bluffing stab but the timed medium pop.
- Don't stab at a pot you raised if you hit a monster hand !!! Make a overly large bet if you are playing against a skilled opponent and the slow play if against a weak opponent. Remember to the weak opponent the obvious move is obvious but to a strong opponent the obvious move is the deceptive move.
-To be honest I have made stabbing an art and I can truthfully say I win aa large majority of the hands I play blind hands included. Practice the timing and generally remember small bets (but not weak bets!) are the bets that make an opponent say "yea right man im not getting sucked into this hand ! " but consider the board if there is a flush or straight draw on the board your opponent may put you on a draw. So it's really 50/50 whether or not your stab will be effective. But stab anyways cause hell you need the practice practice on the timing
Now that you have won this extra money stabbing or maybe you are still about even here is where your monster money comes from.
First you must know that position is crucial if you don't know why well then just take my word for it. Many times whether or not I have position will be the deciding factor on whether or not I call a raiser.
I don't feel like writing a novel here so let me just briefly give you a few scenario's on how you might double your stack.
Villain makes a fairly large raise (In all these cases villain must be a fairly respectable player and have a decent stack in front of him, don't mess with a maniac whom has a low stack unless you have the proverbial AA KK AK QQ or maybe JJ) ok so Villain raised and you are in position. well ill always call with a pocket pair the best are the old 22-99 for deceptive reasons. You have 22 flop comes 2 5 9 the rest is history (his whole stack may be yours if you miss fold no biggy)
If i have any suited connectors 23 through 910 flop comes ill call
say you have 45 spades flop comes 44 9 flop comes 637 flop comes 44A the rest is history or many nice drawing opps such as 4 6 7 well I would be hard pressed not to get my whole stack in here. In this case i would check so as not to be reraised but im definatley seeing the turn especially if there are two of my suit on the table then I WILL get all my chips in cause i certainly don't put him on a flush draw when he bets remember he has AA KK QQ the usual...... also do note are you playing against a serial raiser or a tight player.... the tighter the easier cause there is no doubt in your mind what he has right ?
- I will also call with many of the gappers I.e 46 68 etc. I have a special affinatly to J9 Q10 and 810 because in these cases if you flop a straight or turn it etc many times he will have trips, and not even the poker god could get away from that hand !!!
There are a few more cases in which you can call those raises but remember that old saying Aces you either win a small hand or lose a big one. BE THAT GUY WHO LOSES 3 SMALL HANDS TO EM AND STACKS HIM ON THE FOURTH !!!!!!!!!!! Do that by keeping a sufficient stack size by stabbing stabbing stabbing (the correct way) and then gambling with those hands I previously indicated against preflop monsters......
Hmmmm time for some more seagrams hope you enjoyed !
Re: A poker Gods muchly condensed low/mid no limit guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziluminor
here are some ideas which mold into a solid theory/art:
-Preflop the worst shape you can be in is roughly a 4:1 dog.
!
Not even close.
JJ vs 72o = 8.2 : 1
AA vs AKo = 13.5 : 1
KK vs K20 = 21.9 : 1
How to improve my strategy.
I have played this strategy with some success. $1/2 NL tables where you are looking to see cheap flops when you have a pocket pair(searching for trips with low pairs or an overpair with JJ or better) or your pocket cards are suited and there is only 1 or 2 values between them. eg. Call with 8d jd but not 8d qd. This is because unless you hit the straight on the flop, then best you can do is chase a gunshot straight which 9/10 times has bad odds. You only need to hit 2 cards
Generally speaking I am only looking for trips or better. My main aim with this strategy is to win big pots by catching the 2 or 3 average players at a table bluffing at a pot or not being able to throw down their AK or pocket pair.
I have found that recently at the tables I have been playing have been too aggressive pre-flop. I am looking at limping in to hands when I get the pockets I am after however I am finding that Ill wait 25mins for a low pocket pair only to be faced with an $8 preflop raise. I think about calling with my 6-6 but I know that if any picture card his the flop I will fold.
Any suggestions on how to improve my obviously flawed strategy.
Re: How to improve my strategy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by glenndelen
I have played this strategy with some success. $1/2 NL tables where you are looking to see cheap flops when you have a pocket pair(searching for trips with low pairs or an overpair with JJ or better) or your pocket cards are suited and there is only 1 or 2 values between them. eg. Call with 8d jd but not 8d qd. This is because unless you hit the straight on the flop, then best you can do is chase a gunshot straight which 9/10 times has bad odds. You only need to hit 2 cards
Generally speaking I am only looking for trips or better. My main aim with this strategy is to win big pots by catching the 2 or 3 average players at a table bluffing at a pot or not being able to throw down their AK or pocket pair.
I have found that recently at the tables I have been playing have been too aggressive pre-flop. I am looking at limping in to hands when I get the pockets I am after however I am finding that Ill wait 25mins for a low pocket pair only to be faced with an $8 preflop raise. I think about calling with my 6-6 but I know that if any picture card his the flop I will fold.
Any suggestions on how to improve my obviously flawed strategy.
A couple things:
1. Only limp w/ these suited gapper type cards from late position w/ a few limpers already in the pot. You are probably getting raised out of the pot a lot preflop, because you are limping way too much w/ these hands from early position. Limping from early position w/out a hand w/ legs= bad imo.
2. Your PP 66 scenario is way too weak. You need to consider more variables before you instafold after a picture flop. Ultimately, I like to at least tenuatively decide before the flop why am I playing the low PP. If I hit my set, do I know that this guy is going to pay me off? If that is true, then you have an instafold if you don't hit your set, because according to our knowledge, this guy isn't letting go of his hand. Another scenario is that you know this guy likes to raise a lot preflop, throw in a continuation bet, and then give up if he is not strong. If this is true, do not instafold to scary boards, you can take this pot down later. Of course, against good players you have all kinds of scenarios that lie somewhere in between those two, but I hope that helps.
