Petulie Reviews

[Petulie]

Hi guys!

Right, so things haven't been going as amazingly as I'd like on the poker front. My biggest leak of all is defo not reviewing my sessions. Decided a new op was in order to kick start this and keep me motivated. Not sure exactly what the optimal approach is but Ima give it a bash and any advice along the way will be much appreciated!

I am very aware I am an aggro spew tard but I'm having trouble fine tuning my aggression. Here are a few hands I'm unsure of.



H1.

HJ is 38/0 over 8 hands and pretty aggro post flop so far. Stabs at lots of limped pots IP etc. Other two dudes look pretty reggy but little info as just joined table.

I call pre wanting to get into a pot when IP with the fishy. We end up multiway and when the fish minbets this turn, I think his range is pretty weak here. He's stabbing with a lot of air, may have ace rag, 8x, draws.

I raised wanting to isolate the fish with my tp+fd+bdsd and avoid being raised off my hand by one of the regs when I call. I think people can be calling my raise with worse pair+fds/sds.

Thoughts?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed)

BB ($10.52)
UTG ($10.34)
MP ($12.09)
CO ($10.73)
Hero (Button) ($10)
SB ($9.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 9
1 fold, MP bets $0.30, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.30, SB calls $0.25, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($1.20) 10, 8, 10 (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.20) A (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP bets $0.50, Hero raises to $1.30



H2.

So I like to take down pots and here's one of those spots. BB is 18/9 over 65 hands, has folded to 2/4 cbets. Limper is 42/15 over 26, folded to 2/2 cbets so far.

When this checks to me on the flop, I want to cbet with my T hi bdfd. When the board is this low and dry however, I wonder what I am hoping to fold out? Overcards may not be folding, certainly not any made hands. If I do bet, what kinda size am I looking at? Like 70c?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed)

BB ($13.43)
UTG ($10.28)
MP ($6.64)
CO ($10.15)
Hero (Button) ($20.52)
SB ($4.05)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 6
1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero bets $0.40, 1 fold, BB calls $0.30, MP calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.25) 8, 2, 5 (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero ?




H3.

I'm sure this hand is terrible in sooo many ways.

So blind vs blind with someone who hasn't played a hand yet out of 8. I'm looking pretty damn aggro so far. I considered 3betting pre but then decided that given my image and how tight he looks so far flatting may be the better option. Mistake nr 1?

Otf villain cbets quite small. Should I have raised my gssd here? I'm repping a fair amount on this board, but I think it hits his range decently as well if he's got lots of broadways, sc's, suited gappers...I assume I would have to fold to a 3bet here esp without the fd, and since I am IP I may as well see the next card for cheap. Mistake nr 2?

Villain barrels the turn. Again I considered raising, but I think if I was going to bluff this hand it should have been on the flop and now that my equity has improved slightly I figure I can call another street. Mistake nr 3?

On the river, when villain checks he has a relatively weak hand. I want to value bet here, as I think I can get called by lower straights, two pair and sets (although not many his range given smallish bet sizing on earlier streets). He would have bet the river with QT or a flush, so I think I'm safe making a small value bet here. Something like 1.80?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed)

MP ($3.85)
Button ($5.07)
SB ($32.99)
Hero (BB) ($10.77)
UTG ($10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, A
3 folds, SB bets $0.35, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($0.70) 8, K, J (2 players)
SB bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

Turn: ($1.50) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $1, Hero calls $1

River: ($3.50) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero ?




H4.

I suck in 3bet pots OOP, mainly cause I bluff so much from the blinds and end up in difficult spots such as the the one below.

Villain is 19/13/29 ats/100% fold to 3bet/fold to cbet is 4/9 over 181 hands. He previously c/r'ed 99 on T42tt and bet turn and river getting his stack in vs my KK. I've been 3betting him a bit from the blinds and I think he's getting a bit sick of me. I have no idea what the best line is with this hand.

So when he flats pre this discounts KK+, AK as I think he'd be 4betting these hands, so I think his range is something like TT-QQ, AJ+, KJ+, QJ. Does this sound about right?

I cbet the flop thinking I'll get folds plenty enough here. Sizing is maybe a bit large? I did consider c/c'ing but I wouldn't know what to do when faced with a turn bet; it would be easy to barrel me off this hand.

The turn is what I'm really unhappy with. This is terrible. It should really have been a check/evaluate. When he shoves here, due to our history, I kind of think he's full of shit. He could be doing this with like all of his range. I'm lost! Advice?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - PokerStars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

BB ($10)
UTG ($11.18)
MP ($11.07)
Button ($11.36)
Hero (SB) ($19.07)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, 5
2 folds, Button bets $0.35, Hero raises to $1.10, 1 fold, Button calls $0.75

Flop: ($2.30) J, 7, K (2 players)
Hero bets $1.30, Button calls $1.30

Turn: ($4.90) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.60, Button raises to $8.96 (All-In), Hero never should have bet this turn!

[Nekrogovner]

H1 - I suppose you might raise bigger here to give worse odds to villains trying to draw. I also think of folding to any further aggression and c/f-ing river.

H2 - Fold pre. I suppose i would bet 1/2 pot here, even less. If anything folds here it will fold to lower bet size I thinks.

H3 - Raising flop, checking turn, jamming river when he stabs, because I want to represent clubs and fold any T he has. But am also quite hungry now and want his 10$ to buy me a meal.

H4 - He seems tight. I think you beat only QsTs and QQ. So I fold.

[Petulie]

Great discussion with the carrot man about these hands. Ima summarise what I've learned.

H1. Fold pre. I don't usually flat such weak hands pre, but I thought I was ok here given I was IP and the fish seemed really bad so far. His raising range changes everything, however, so terrible call after all. Ott, anything that calls my raise likely has me crushed as the fish is likely to limp all the Ax, 98s, 87s etc I was hoping to gain value from. Part of the reason for the raise was to charge or fold draws from the regs, however this isn't important when I'm losing money over the long term by making this raise anyway. Best to just call and keep his range wide here.

Conclusion:
*Tighten up pre-flop!!!
*Avoid making wrong assumptions about fishies.
*Stop narrowing villains range in bad spots and having myself crushed.

H2. C-betting is probably fine here. I was wondering what would fold, but a fair amount of Jx, Qx, Kx, Ax will be folding. Tighty on the BB probably has more broadways, suited cards etc than PPs in his range that will be folding on this flop. The fish will have plenty of air that's folding out as well. So over the long term, this c-bet is likely +EV.

Conclusion:
*If villain(s) fold to cbets the majority of times, c-betting is +EV, take that pot down.

H3. Pre-flop and flop look fine. Maybe could have raised the flop, certainly would have with a fd, but it's a good price to see a turn card. The turn, however, should have been a fold. His range is reasonably strong when he bets this turn, but anything completing the straight on the river would likely have been too scary to gain any value. A and T rivers wouldn't have been great as when villain bets he's likely got me crushed, so these aren't really outs.

Conclusion:
*Don't be calling turn bets with iffy draws without the odds to call.

H4. Given the dynamic with BU, this turn is likely a b/c. He could easily be jamming with AJ, QJ, TT, QQ of which I've got crushed. There's little need to worry about Kx hands as he's not likely to be flatting these pre. b/c is also the best line given the dynamic since this induces lots of spaz. I previously thought people were more fit or fold in 3bet pots, not wanting to lose more monies, however given the history he's a spazzy aggroreg without any idea of sd value/turning hands into bluffs.

Conclusion:
*Aggro regs spaz in 3bet pots, don't let them intimidate!

Appreciate any extra insight!

[Petulie]

H1 - I suppose you might raise bigger here to give worse odds to villains trying to draw. I also think of folding to any further aggression and c/f-ing river.

I really shouldn't have been raising at all. All that calls are better aces, Tx, likely better fds. We fold out all air and leave ourselves up against a crushing range.

H2 - Fold pre. I suppose i would bet 1/2 pot here, even less. If anything folds here it will fold to lower bet size I thinks.

I think iso'ing is fine here. Don't usually have to worry about blinds giving me any trouble, fish is fit or fold. I want to be getting into loads of pots IP vs fish with a hand that plays all right post flop and I'll be taking down lots of pots with my cbet.

H3 - Raising flop, checking turn, jamming river when he stabs, because I want to represent clubs and fold any T he has. But am also quite hungry now and want his 10$ to buy me a meal.

Raising flop, checking back turn was definitely an option. Think it can go either way, but given the price I like a call here. If it was 50c I'd be more inclined to bluff and take down the pot. I definitely wouldn't be jamming any river stabs unless I hit - I would only be folding out hands I beat and would be absolutely crushed by anything that calls.

H4 - He seems tight. I think you beat only QsTs and QQ. So I fold.

Yea I totally thought this was a fold as well. This guy has shown to spaz with middle pair in the past however and I've been pissing him off with my constant aggression vs him, so in this case calling is actually good. He'll be showing up with Jx, TT, QQ so much of the time here. If we didn't have history this would defo normally be a fold though.

[rpm]

fold pre in hand one. your hand simply does not flop well at all, and is the kind of hand which can get you in a lot of trouble vs A9+. villain probably isn't raising many if any worse aces, and our positional+skill advantage probably won't be enough to make calling +EV without the card equity advantage. as played just call the turn. you get called by very little worse (maybe some naked Ks,Qs) and you re-open the betting in a spot where you basically have little more hand strength than a bluff catcher.

hand 2 i think we definitely need to be cbetting dry, unco-ordinated boards like this to make isoing with T6s +EV. i'd go $0.7 and plan to fire any club on the turn (just because we might be getting peeled wider than we would like - by naked overcards etc - so our barreling potential compensates for what could be low flop fold equity)

hand 3 i'd call pre. calling the flop seems pretty marginal as we certainly dont have enough implied odds on our gutshot, and we don't seem to know enough about villain's flop/turn/river tendencies to know we have enough implied fold equity on the turn or river to float. i think fold>raise>call on this flop. once the turn falls and this nit fires a second barrel OOP we are in really bad shape. turn is very definitely a fold.

hand 4 i dont mind your choice of hand preflop. although it is worth noting that when villains size their BU opens so badly, as villain has done here, we dont need to be playing as many hands to avoid being exploited. he's risking far more than he needs to/is standard to steal the blinds, meaning he needs us to fold more for his steal to be +EV, meaning we dont have to play as many hands to avoid exploitation. hit me up if that doesn't make sense to you i can probably explain it clearer. once this flop comes down, this is our time to start formulating somewhat of a plan. we need to decide what our goal is for the hand and how to achieve it. in this case we have flopped top pair in a 3b pot with a very marginal kicker. we can certainly get at least one bet from villain and expect to be ahead. what about two? three? personally i don't think we would be able to get more than 2 streets and still have >50% equity against his calling range. so i'm going for two. and i think the best line in this case is bet flop/check turn/bet river (when he checks back the turn)

_________________
edit: so after posting this i read others' posts and realised i had ignored our read in this hand that villain value-owns himself with middle pair hands. in light of that, i don't mind bet/calling the turn, and i also don't mind check/shoving it.
________________


by the way, i know you know this to some degree, but - from your hands i've seen you posting you seem to have a leak whereby you turn mid-strength hands into effective bluffs by raising cbets and things like this. it's actually really hard to learn to form your own ranges. it's hard enough to form consistently accurate ranges for your opponents. i'd advise working through the spoonitnow exercises in the BC to help you with this if you have the time, as they take a pretty logical kind of step-by-step introductory approach to learning to form your own ranges in responses to what you perceive villain's ranges to be.

[Petulie]

Thanks so much for the detailed advice rpm, I really appreciate it!

H4 was a really tricky one for me. I do understand about opening sizes and how that affects how often it needs to work, I just need to refresh exactly how this is worked out mathematically. In this hand, my plan didn't extend further than c-betting the flop and I was really lost after that. After all the discussion, I agree that usually (ignoring history) 2 streets is good, and I like the bet flop/check turn/bet river line. In this case however with this particular villain I think bet/calling > check/shoving as I think his jamming range would be wider than his calling range in this spot.

Also, you're totally right about me turning hands into effective bluffs - Carrots has been telling me the same. I'll defo check out those exercises you recommended - have been on my to do list for ages, think it's about time to crack on with these!

[Petulie]

So back down to 5NL, focusing on playing a tight, basic strategy. Here are some of the more difficult spots I was lost in.


H5.

Villain is 22/22 over 9 hands, not playing fully stacked so probably fishy. He could be raising this flop with lots of fd/sd±pair and overpair type hands. I considered 3betting but opted to flat being given such awesome price and I was worried about the board texture. In retrospect I think I should have 3bet here since I'm way ahead of this range. Ott, I call since I'm getting such a good price and I'm assuming he doesn't have too many 4s in his range. Otr I'm totally lost. I don't think he has very much air in his range here...fold?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($15.49)
SB ($5)
BB ($4.07)
UTG ($2)
MP ($5)
Hero (CO) ($5.07)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, Q
2 folds, Hero bets $0.15, 2 folds, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.32) 7, 5, 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.20, BB raises to $0.60, Hero calls $0.40

Turn: ($1.52) 6 (2 players)
BB bets $0.72, Hero calls $0.72

River: ($2.96) 9 (2 players)
BB bets $2.11, Hero?



H6.

This may well be a leak. Villain is 24/15 over 245, folds BB 72%, no notes on the guy. Std pre and flop imo. I bet turn 3/5 pot since I've got my nfd/sd/sfd and this guy has a low fold to flop cbet (43%) so I think I can fold out air and low pairs. When he raises I've got him on a good Qx, sd/fd and 4x. He may be slow playing 22. The raise isn't massive, I've got like 30% pot odds here and 27% to hit on the river...is this a bad call? River is obv a c/f. If I did hit, what would be the optimal line? My plan was to lead smallish hoping to either get called by Qx or induce from 4x kinda thing.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($5)
UTG ($6.05)
MP ($5)
CO ($8.80)
Button ($5)
Hero (SB) ($5.14)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 3
4 folds, Hero bets $0.15, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.30) 2, Q, 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.20, BB calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.70) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.40, BB raises to $1, Hero calls $0.60

River: ($2.70) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $1.92, Hero folds

[Carroters]

5

Vs this guy (likely weaker player/fish) I like just 3 betting the flop and getting it in. Calling and planning to call down is okay, but I think there are a load of turns where we're unsure about whether he continues bluffing, continues betting 88-JJ & shit, or just only continues with better etc. I'd expect a weaker player here to have a pretty depolarised range on the flop containing some draws, obviously sets, and then lots of stuff like 88-JJ 7x and stuff.

Think you can felt the flop in really good shape, get value vs draws and depolarised nonsense before cards that hurt your action roll off while also avoiding putting yourself in situations where you're likely to make mistakes. If we thought villain was aggro and full of shit, I'd be calling and bluff catching here on later streets. With the info we have though I think 3 bet/felting flop will be most profitable and easily +EV.


6

Looks fine. I'd bet the turn bigger though. You just get so much implied value on rivers where you make your hand, so may as well build a pot and maximise your chance of getting a fold from his weaker stuff that doesn't pay off rivers anyways. I'd shut down most rivers when you brick and as played calling turn and folding river is fine.

If you hit, I'd just lead really big. If I was against a reg or someone that could v bet properly I might c/r, but fish just love to check back flush cards with trips/top pair etc. Just lead pretty big he'll rarely fold a Q or and won't fold a 4 like ever. By leading small vs a passive guy like this you run way too high a risk of him snap calling being afraid of that dreaded flush.

[daven]

we have very different styles...

hand 1 - fold pre. As played bet flop when checked to. As played call turn.

hand 2 - don't iso T6s vs someone who doesn't fold enough post-flop. Fold pre

hand 3 - call pre is fine. Flop fold/call/raise are all not terrible. Turn is marginal, river bet $1.50.

hand 4 - if you've been hammering someone with 3bets then maybe you should slow down and fold pre here? 3b is ok too. check flop as played obviously.

hand 5 - Pre good, flop is a gross spot vs a short aggro type. Turn i'm lost so i'd probably just shove

hand 6 - pre and flop look great to me, turn $0.55, vs raise it's close.

[Petulie]

I was on such a heater last night! I'm finding 5nl so easy now, regs are super exploitable, fish are uber spazzy. I'm re-rolled for 10nl but Ima wait with moving up til I've got like 3BB/100 and that should give me some extra cushion and hopefully keep me at 10nl!

H7.

This hand just makes me laugh. 5NL regs just can't handle being 3bet lightly and have no idea of how to adjust. So it's all about the history. This guy opened super wide in late position, always to like 3.5x and I'd been 3betting this guy shitloads both defending my sb and especially when ip. He folded every time, but I could tell he was getting annoyed with me and thinking hard before folding to the last couple of 3bets. Then he decides to flat this and call me down 3 sts all in deep...by the river I was worried about what he was calling me with but figured there were plenty of worse Ax, pocket pairs etc he may think he's bluff catching with.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($3.54)
BB ($7.02)
UTG ($4.77)
MP ($6.98)
CO ($6.39)
Hero (Button) ($11.64)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, J
2 folds, CO bets $0.15, Hero raises to $0.45, 2 folds, CO calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.97) 2, A, 9 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $0.70, CO calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.37) 6 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $1.35, CO calls $1.35

River: ($5.07) 6 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $9.14 (All-In), CO calls $3.89 (All-In)

Total pot: $12.85 | Rake: $0.63

Results below:
Hero had A, J (two pair, Aces and sixes).
CO had 9, K (two pair, nines and sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $12.22


H8.

Villain is 53/35 over 20. This is the first spot ever I've identified as perfect for an overbet - unfortunately I just didn't realise it in time! So I like the bet/call on the turn, I think I'm getting lots of folds here and with the min raise I've just about got the implied odds to call. My river sizing is atrocious. I think I was hoping to induce from Tx, but immediately after placing the bet I realised that overbetting was so the way forward. This guy's pretty passive, he's never folding a T, I think I should have bet like $1.50. Thoughts?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($3.46)
Button ($5)
SB ($4.63)
Hero (BB) ($5.55)
UTG ($0.36)
MP ($2.83)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5, 2
2 folds, CO calls $0.05, 2 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.12) 10, 3, 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($0.12) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.15, CO raises to $0.30, Hero calls $0.15

River: ($0.72) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.45 - blegh


H9.

Villain is unknown. I find these monotone flops difficult, esp when up against a shorty. Is it a mistake to cbet here? I figured I'd be getting lots of folds and I've got decent equity anyway with overcards/nfd. He mega raises and given the amount he's got left it's a jam or fold spot and I don't have much fold equity here. He could be doing this with any pair+club, Kcx straight draws, obv made flushes...Thoughts?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($2.78)
UTG ($5.05)
MP ($5.72)
Hero (Button) ($7.71)
SB ($3.05)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, A
2 folds, Hero bets $0.15, 1 fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.32) Q, 8, 7 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.25, BB raises to $1.20, Hero?

[bikes]

hand 1 c/jam
hand 2 its time to show him the buisness