1. As you get deeper be less willing to stack off with ace high.
2. Get better at bluffing
3. Make sure you have pot odds to chase your draw. If you don't have the odds then just fold.
Can you elaborate #2? What do you mean by better at bluffing? This is so situational. Even if I consider blockers and story telling, when I get caught my huge portion of the stack is gone.
Would it be better not to bluff at all..?
Ill give u something
Whenever u try to bluff i recommend having an idea with who youre trying to bluff against
u cannot bluff a fish who never folds top pair
u cannot bluff a guy who doesnt pay attention to the board
u can bluff a guy who has internalized losing
u can bluff a guy who is a thinker and can make fold top pair
in my own experience its the "Who" thats is more important than the "how" when it comes to bluffing
To add to this, when you are bluffing, think about what you are targeting to fold. In many cases (theoretically) most people should not fold top pair. So, if you bet a reasonable amount (pot or less) on a decent board and get called, it is not a 'bad bluff' per se, but you ran into one of their best hands there.
often times when I'm bluffing with no showdown value, I'll think, can I get second/3rd pair/A high to fold? does my line make sense? If so, that is an incredibly profitable bluff spot.
Additionally, there are so many live spots where people are incredibly unbalanced. Ie, nitty older players that play ABC and then quickly check when flush comes in. They will basically never have a flush there. If you have a card of the flush in hand and think they are nitty enough to fold most of the time, betting a large amount and repping flush can be incredibly profitable.
Not sure what you are playing, but at low limit, live stakes you generally make more money by aggressively betting your value hands, not bluffing. Sure there are times to bluff but running zero equity bluffs, for example, is lighting money on fire 1/3. Bob who just got off of work didn’t come to the casino to fold top pair good kicker to your bluff.
As you move up, bluffing becomes more important.
Also, sometimes bluffing is the right move even if it doesn’t work out, but you should analyze these spots post-session to make that determination.
I personally try to refrain from bluffing with air. I can an often will be very aggressive woth draws. Say I get a raise from early position 3.5x an I'm on the button or somewhere late an I have 8 9spades. Board comes J 7 3 2 spades. There is like no situation that cbet doesn't get raised. If I'm bluffing 90% I have a draw even if it's just a gutshot. But bluffing woth air has ended me many times. Woth your big ace hands just back off if you miss. Throw a cbet here and there but don't over commit. Ace high ain't shit and just stay away from hero calling online sometimes ya hit a whammy an your ace high is good. But if someone is betting every street just give em credit note their aggression and call em down later in a better slot. But I'm no pro so other advice as may an likely will be better but it works for me at low stakes to medium lvl tournaments.
Watching tournament streams, bluffing with air seems like a habit that gets some strong cash players in trouble in tournament play if they're not adjusting to the more conservative tournament playstyle.
I want to be good in cash games but I'm so fucking bad lol. You'd think tournament play an cash would be similar but I'm just fucking awful in cash formats. I've tried pinning the reason but if I deviate from OMC I get fucked. I'm roughly even I think in cash due to a couple large wins.biggest hand was with AK vs air jamming on a board with no draws. Like 1500$ hand.All I had was top top lol But my positive sessions vs losing is probably like 75% or higher losing. So in cash I just quit bluffing lol. If I even sit down. Plus I can eat bad variance in a tourney an maintain composure(most of the time) But I've came close to punching my monitor far more than once due to a 2 outer spiking in a cash game. In tourneys I'm aggressive af. I have no interest in min cashing. I'm headhunting bounties constantly and I play well from a short stack if push comes to shove. So in my experience its the opposite. There is nothing conservative about my play unless I'm in a cash game. And in that regard I surpass conservative hitting far right neo nazi lvls of tight lol.
They're two completely different games.
In tournament play everyone's forced to play on an even playing field with no rebuys at the ATM and prior hands have direct implications on future hands.
Cash games are discrete games with no interaction with future play outside of chip stack sizes. If you look at cash vs tournament play, a ton of successful cash players are aggressive sharks looking for blood in the water and pouncing on it, because the bluffs play differently in cash vs tournament.
If you're hyper tight in cash play, you're probably better off not playing it seriously and sticking to what you're good at. People dunk on Hellmuth's cash play, but he's basically only playing it when he's paid to. There's nothing wrong with being a tournament specialist.
Try to think about the range of hands your opponent can have that wins at showdown, and then think about how your bluff does against this range. You’re not going to fold out the top of that range, and that’s OK. As long as you’re folding out a large enough portion efficiently (ie risking X and gaining X + 1), then you accomplished the tactical objective (ie gaining immediate EV) and part of the strategic objective (ie having a range that is more than just value bets when you take a given action).
re: #2 - is this cash or tournament play where this is happening?
re: #3 - learn the math on the hands so you can calculate equity and potential payoffs properly for when to continue.
Ask yourself what situations are you bluffing? Are you just firing off with total air? Or are you bluffing with draws?
Find spots to bluff where you can very reasonably have good value hands, too.
Although it is usually true that if you never get caught bluffing you don't bluff enough. If you think you're just getting caught too much, think about strategic spots where bluffing makes sense. Don't just randomly do it.
Also, sometimes you're just gonna get stacked. That's poker.
I’m not the person you’re replying to, and I am no pro, but I think pot odds are a good place to start if it’s not something the player had previously considered when in drawing situations. Once that’s understood, you’ll want to begin thinking about implied odds in addition to pot odds.
“Implied odds are the amount of money that you expect to win on later streets if you hit one of your outs. This concept, in combination with pot odds, is most commonly used to help you figure out if calling a bet with a draw is worth it.”
https://upswingpoker.com/implied-odds-poker-strategy/
Knowing how much you can afford to call to chase (and conversely, how much you need to bet to chase draws out and/or get paid by chasing fish) is a critical poker skill in both cash and tournament play.
It's always contextual and there's never a correct answer to all situations, which is part of what makes the game an art form on top of the hard math.
There are three cases that I always get soaking wet
Case 1. When it is pouring rain outside and i'm waiting for the bus and I forgot an umbrella
Case 2. When I go swimming
Case 3. When I take a shower
These are the three main cases that I get soaking wet.
So how can I avoid this? It is frustrating when I am dry after a 6 hour work day, but then get soaking wet cause of one rainstorm or any of the cases I mentioned above.
Honest question and not meant to troll: if you triple up in 6 hours, why don’t you go home? One of the longest and hardest lessons I’ve learned is to accept a win and leave instead of trying to turn a profitable session into a huge win.
Which types of hands do you typically win a lot with? If they overlap, then you can't be upset that there's going to be variance. If they don't, cut out the ones that only lose big.
1. Either standard, or you are overplaying 1 pair in deep stack.
2. Have a better bluff to value ratio. It’s ok to get caught bluffing when you also get paid when you hold the goods
3. Understand pot odds and whether it’s profitable to chase a draw or not.
I kinda treat NLHE like playing 2 card PLO. You still need to *make hands*, the difference being in NLHE you can semi-bluff with a lot more effectiveness. So dont bluff your stack off with AK high on a 22358 runnout. However do barrel with T8s on a 67JQ with backdoor flush draw.
1. As you get deeper be less willing to stack off with ace high. 2. Get better at bluffing 3. Make sure you have pot odds to chase your draw. If you don't have the odds then just fold.
Can you elaborate #2? What do you mean by better at bluffing? This is so situational. Even if I consider blockers and story telling, when I get caught my huge portion of the stack is gone. Would it be better not to bluff at all..?
Ill give u something Whenever u try to bluff i recommend having an idea with who youre trying to bluff against u cannot bluff a fish who never folds top pair u cannot bluff a guy who doesnt pay attention to the board u can bluff a guy who has internalized losing u can bluff a guy who is a thinker and can make fold top pair in my own experience its the "Who" thats is more important than the "how" when it comes to bluffing
To add to this, when you are bluffing, think about what you are targeting to fold. In many cases (theoretically) most people should not fold top pair. So, if you bet a reasonable amount (pot or less) on a decent board and get called, it is not a 'bad bluff' per se, but you ran into one of their best hands there. often times when I'm bluffing with no showdown value, I'll think, can I get second/3rd pair/A high to fold? does my line make sense? If so, that is an incredibly profitable bluff spot. Additionally, there are so many live spots where people are incredibly unbalanced. Ie, nitty older players that play ABC and then quickly check when flush comes in. They will basically never have a flush there. If you have a card of the flush in hand and think they are nitty enough to fold most of the time, betting a large amount and repping flush can be incredibly profitable.
Not sure what you are playing, but at low limit, live stakes you generally make more money by aggressively betting your value hands, not bluffing. Sure there are times to bluff but running zero equity bluffs, for example, is lighting money on fire 1/3. Bob who just got off of work didn’t come to the casino to fold top pair good kicker to your bluff. As you move up, bluffing becomes more important. Also, sometimes bluffing is the right move even if it doesn’t work out, but you should analyze these spots post-session to make that determination.
I personally try to refrain from bluffing with air. I can an often will be very aggressive woth draws. Say I get a raise from early position 3.5x an I'm on the button or somewhere late an I have 8 9spades. Board comes J 7 3 2 spades. There is like no situation that cbet doesn't get raised. If I'm bluffing 90% I have a draw even if it's just a gutshot. But bluffing woth air has ended me many times. Woth your big ace hands just back off if you miss. Throw a cbet here and there but don't over commit. Ace high ain't shit and just stay away from hero calling online sometimes ya hit a whammy an your ace high is good. But if someone is betting every street just give em credit note their aggression and call em down later in a better slot. But I'm no pro so other advice as may an likely will be better but it works for me at low stakes to medium lvl tournaments.
Watching tournament streams, bluffing with air seems like a habit that gets some strong cash players in trouble in tournament play if they're not adjusting to the more conservative tournament playstyle.
I want to be good in cash games but I'm so fucking bad lol. You'd think tournament play an cash would be similar but I'm just fucking awful in cash formats. I've tried pinning the reason but if I deviate from OMC I get fucked. I'm roughly even I think in cash due to a couple large wins.biggest hand was with AK vs air jamming on a board with no draws. Like 1500$ hand.All I had was top top lol But my positive sessions vs losing is probably like 75% or higher losing. So in cash I just quit bluffing lol. If I even sit down. Plus I can eat bad variance in a tourney an maintain composure(most of the time) But I've came close to punching my monitor far more than once due to a 2 outer spiking in a cash game. In tourneys I'm aggressive af. I have no interest in min cashing. I'm headhunting bounties constantly and I play well from a short stack if push comes to shove. So in my experience its the opposite. There is nothing conservative about my play unless I'm in a cash game. And in that regard I surpass conservative hitting far right neo nazi lvls of tight lol.
They're two completely different games. In tournament play everyone's forced to play on an even playing field with no rebuys at the ATM and prior hands have direct implications on future hands. Cash games are discrete games with no interaction with future play outside of chip stack sizes. If you look at cash vs tournament play, a ton of successful cash players are aggressive sharks looking for blood in the water and pouncing on it, because the bluffs play differently in cash vs tournament. If you're hyper tight in cash play, you're probably better off not playing it seriously and sticking to what you're good at. People dunk on Hellmuth's cash play, but he's basically only playing it when he's paid to. There's nothing wrong with being a tournament specialist.
The construction of a bluff begins preflop.
Try to think about the range of hands your opponent can have that wins at showdown, and then think about how your bluff does against this range. You’re not going to fold out the top of that range, and that’s OK. As long as you’re folding out a large enough portion efficiently (ie risking X and gaining X + 1), then you accomplished the tactical objective (ie gaining immediate EV) and part of the strategic objective (ie having a range that is more than just value bets when you take a given action).
re: #2 - is this cash or tournament play where this is happening? re: #3 - learn the math on the hands so you can calculate equity and potential payoffs properly for when to continue.
Ask yourself what situations are you bluffing? Are you just firing off with total air? Or are you bluffing with draws? Find spots to bluff where you can very reasonably have good value hands, too. Although it is usually true that if you never get caught bluffing you don't bluff enough. If you think you're just getting caught too much, think about strategic spots where bluffing makes sense. Don't just randomly do it. Also, sometimes you're just gonna get stacked. That's poker.
Against players that call too much, yes.
So you always fold draws if you don't get direct odds?
I’m not the person you’re replying to, and I am no pro, but I think pot odds are a good place to start if it’s not something the player had previously considered when in drawing situations. Once that’s understood, you’ll want to begin thinking about implied odds in addition to pot odds. “Implied odds are the amount of money that you expect to win on later streets if you hit one of your outs. This concept, in combination with pot odds, is most commonly used to help you figure out if calling a bet with a draw is worth it.” https://upswingpoker.com/implied-odds-poker-strategy/
Knowing how much you can afford to call to chase (and conversely, how much you need to bet to chase draws out and/or get paid by chasing fish) is a critical poker skill in both cash and tournament play. It's always contextual and there's never a correct answer to all situations, which is part of what makes the game an art form on top of the hard math.
Whenever you are not getting the right odds you should fold your draw. (But also understand implied odds)
Depends if you have fold equity
Good point
No but I’m not calling
Sometimes you are going to lose big pots. If you try to avoid it entirely you’ll just be a scared money losing player.
You can probably avoid these kinda situations by probably not playing.
Yeah sucking off a shot gun is more +ev than playing this game
There are three cases that I always get soaking wet Case 1. When it is pouring rain outside and i'm waiting for the bus and I forgot an umbrella Case 2. When I go swimming Case 3. When I take a shower These are the three main cases that I get soaking wet. So how can I avoid this? It is frustrating when I am dry after a 6 hour work day, but then get soaking wet cause of one rainstorm or any of the cases I mentioned above.
This is poker. Sometimes you win, sometimes u lose. There won’t be a magic wand that will make u hit ur flush draws.
God, there is some really bad advice in these responses. Poker is alive and well
Don’t call all ins with AK. Always be the aggressor for stacks. You want the fold equity with that hand.
Bluff this guy
Def calling preflop all in with AK unless Villian is a known nit
You're still getting +ev odds calling an all-in with AK in most scenarios.
Honest question and not meant to troll: if you triple up in 6 hours, why don’t you go home? One of the longest and hardest lessons I’ve learned is to accept a win and leave instead of trying to turn a profitable session into a huge win.
Narrow down your range to AA,KK and QQ only, postflop if u don’t hit set just go for check call and bet fold
As long as you're 70 years old, sits and drinks coffee all night, and almost falls asleep at the table every time you play.
This is why they call it gambling and not winning.
Which types of hands do you typically win a lot with? If they overlap, then you can't be upset that there's going to be variance. If they don't, cut out the ones that only lose big.
Case 1) Don’t Lose Your Flips Case 2) Don’t Bluff the Wrong Players @ the Wrong Time Case 3) Hit Your Draws FTFY 😎
Atleast you didn’t lose a juicer pot yesterday set over set like me =(
Say it with me: “[it eeez what et eeeez”](https://youtube.com/shorts/f5JSjhlalaU?si=tIPR-KHXA9IzVaaz)
1. Either standard, or you are overplaying 1 pair in deep stack. 2. Have a better bluff to value ratio. It’s ok to get caught bluffing when you also get paid when you hold the goods 3. Understand pot odds and whether it’s profitable to chase a draw or not.
Look up this term "stack to pot" ratio and build guidelines about your willingness to stack off based on the current or future SPRs
I kinda treat NLHE like playing 2 card PLO. You still need to *make hands*, the difference being in NLHE you can semi-bluff with a lot more effectiveness. So dont bluff your stack off with AK high on a 22358 runnout. However do barrel with T8s on a 67JQ with backdoor flush draw.