Building Blocks

I've picked up some strategic gems from a couple of recent shows. I'll put them down here in hopes that they stick.

Cash Plays: Limit Hold'em with Death Donkey

1) Death Donkey mentions that when the pot is larger, the purpose of your value bets is more to protect the pot. When the pot is smaller, the purpose of your value bets is more to get paid by a worse hand.

2) In limit hold'em, Death Donkey discusses his style of never 4-betting/capping when out of position against an in-position 3-bettor. The reason is that he'll extract that extra small bet on the flop anyway when his opponent continuation bets, and his check-raise on the flop represents a wider range than a 4-bet preflop would.

In position, Death Donkey goes ahead and 4-bets his premium hands preflop.

He says something like, "If you could choose to only play large pots in position and smaller pots out of position, you'd make a lot of money."

Spaceman in a Cowboy Hat: Episode 4

1) The theme of this heads-up NL powerpoint video is that you should try to see how much you can get away with as you adjust to your opponents.

If your opponent will fold as much out of the BB to a minraise as he does to a 3X raise, you risk less to make the same amount with the minraise. If your opponent doesn't distinguish between a 5X and 3X raise preflop, it makes sense to raise bigger with premium hands for value and smaller with lesser hands. Of course, many opponents will catch on if you do this all the time, so you have to pick your spots.

2) The purpose of making larger than 3X 3bets preflop is to reduce your opponent's implied odds. You can raise bigger -- to 10 or 11 BB preflop -- against someone who calls 3bets too frequently, while raising smaller -- like 3X/9BB preflop -- against someone who folds to 3bets too much.

---

On an unrelated note, I have to mention the shenanigans in PokerStars Triple Draw games.

PokerStars has changed the rules of the game without previously informing the players.

Read the 2+2 thread, Ed Miller's take on it and Random Shuffle's reaction.