400NL

Have started to incorporate 400nl into my games selection and have just hit 5,000 hands:



Small sample size obviously but I haven't noticed too much difference from 200nl and in fact have run into some familar players from my regular games. Not all of them are good players :)

In fact this has been the most comfortable I have ever felt when moving up. I am fairly happy with my 'A' game right now and have not had any problems with the increased monetary value of the chips in front of me.

Playing your natural game, not playing scared and not levelling yourself into any fancy play syndrome are crucial when moving up.

Funny Hand

4Betting vs tight range

So our task is to examine the profitability of 4betting and calling off for 100BB's vs a 5-7% 3betting range. Specifically the profitability of TT but using pokerazor we can actually examine the profitability of the line for our entire opening range.

So firstly we set the scene:



For those of you not familiar with pokerazor this is a very simple tree where hero opens to $6 (3bb's), SB 3bets to $22 (11bb's) and hero raises to $48 (24bb's) with his entire range and calls a shove with TT+, AK, AQs.

The percentages shown are the frequencies of each action. For example hero is opening with 52.04% of hands (we are stealing the nits blinds) and folding 47.96% preflop.

If the SB is raising 5-7% of the time his range is pretty strong. This is the range I have assigned:



The range is TT+, AQ+, AJs, KQo being raised 100% of time and then some suited connectors and suited aces being raised occasionally (weighted at 10%). As you can see on the first pic above this equates to SB 3betting of 6.128% of the time. For the purpose of this exercise we are ignoring the times he calls preflop and he is therefore 3betting with this range or folding.

Now I am going to show the pokerazor EV calcs for 4betting our entire range and also the EV of calling if SB shoves. I am going to do this vs two 5 betting ranges.

Results vs tight 5Bet range of JJ+, AK



These results show that even 4betting JJ is a -EV play vs this opponent and we should not be looking to get in in here without QQ+, AK.

Here are the EV calcs of calling the 5bet:



Calling the 5bet with JJ, TT or AQs is still a -EV so we are not 'priced in' to call vs a JJ+, AK 5bet shoving range.

Results vs wider 5bet range of TT+, AK, Axs



So now we add TT and suited aces to his 5bet range (nb. not all suited aces are in his 3bet range) and 4betting JJ now becomes profitable.



And we are priced in to call with TT+, AK, AQs IF we are sure he is sometimes 5bet shoving as a bluff but the 4bet itself is still a -EV play.

The thing to take away from this is just how important it is to know your opponent, and more importantly to know their ranges.

4bet calling TT

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 4 Players

Generated by weaktight.com.

CO	$231.10
Hero (BTN)	$200
SB	$224.25
BB	$227.85

• Pre-Flop ($3, 4 players)Hero is BTN
• 

1 fold, Hero raises to $6, 1 fold, BB raises to $22, Hero raises to $56, BB folds

• Final Pot: $79

• Hero wins $79 (net +$23)
• BB lost $22

Pretty standard stuff right?

Well against this guy it was for sure, as his 3bet range was pretty wide, but what if his 3betting range vs btn open was between 5-7%?

This exact subject has been brought up on Misanthropic's blog and I am going to run this through pokerazor (www.pokerazor.com) when I have a bit more time, probably tomorrow, as I am almost certain that 4betting TT in this situation is a losing play against a tighter range. Before today I was 100% certain!

I obvioulsy need to find out if I am wrong and adjust my thought process accordingly.

Noro and 2/4

Have been away from the tables for a few days as the whole family has been hit by the Norovirus. Also known as the Vomit Virus which really doesn't get close to giving you an idea of how bad it makes you feel! Luckily it only last a few days and we are all on the mend.....

In the few session I have managed to play I have mixed in a little 2/4.
So far I crush at over 25BB's/100.
Smaple size 142 hands.
Sustainable ldo ;)

Here's a hand I am not sure about which I also posted on DC forums....



Villain is 34/26 and seems aggro post flop but no read on his river cbet frequencies.

Any thoughts on flop call and/or turn decision?

What can you do?

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 6 Players

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	$415.75
UTG+1	$209.60
CO	$211.25
BTN	$466.85
SB	$204.35
Hero (BB)	$685.20

• Pre-Flop ($3, 6 players)Hero is BB
• 

3 folds, BTN calls $2, SB calls $1, Hero raises to $14, BTN raises to $66, SB folds, Hero goes all-in $685.20, BTN goes all-in $400.85

• Flop ($1,154.05, 2 players, 2 all-in)
• 

• Turn ($1,154.05, 2 players, 2 all-in)
• 

• River ($1,154.05, 2 players, 2 all-in)
• 

• Final Pot: $1,154.05

• BTN shows a straight, Ten to Ace
• 

• Hero shows three of a kind, Aces
• 

• BTN wins $932.70 ( won +$465.85 )
• Hero wins $218.35 ( lost -$466.85 )
• SB lost -$2

Same mistake again? Maybe......

Very similar hand/line from yesterday but this time villain is 42/16 and spewy post flop.

More interestingly the hand from yesterday was still fresh in my mind and yet my gut was still telling me not to fold this. Usually it's the other way round with alarm bells ringing loud and just depends whether I am playing well enough to find the fold button.

Can't really explain why I was sure I was good here though so have to put this one down to one of two things, either Winners Tilt (I was having a good session, could have ruined it!) or Unconcious Competence as per Jared vids (ie I was in the zone).

Eliminating Mistakes

I have had a decent start to October and feel good about my game, but this hand from today annoys me.....



My annoyance is because:

1. Villain is tight pre, passive post flop. I was actually thinking about folding the flop but decided to call and see what develops. This is at best a marginal call.(Note the lack of plan in my thought process.....)

2. Having made the marginal call I check (which I think is OK) but my failure to make a plan now has me in trouble and time bank is ticking.

3. I revert to the bad old if in doubt check/ship the turn line!

This hand is the difference between an 'A' rating for the session and a 'C' rating and gives me my first 'C' of the month :(

Euro games testing on stars

Not sure what to make of this and will reserve judgement for now. HEM doesn't seem to be able to differentiate between currencies which is an obvious problem when it comes to working out your winrate!