Mastering Small Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha [1 ed.]

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Learning about the “Four Pillars of Postflop Strategy” reframed my decision making process in even the closest spots. Now I feel more comfortable identifying when a hand is a clear raise, call, or fold on the flop, and find myself in fewer marginal situations on later streets than previously. Mastering Small Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha should be required reading for any player new to PLO or transitioning from NLHE. Fernando has spent more time engaged in a deep study of PLO than anyone on the planet, so you can be confident his recommended strategies are +EV in any game format and will remain so for many years to come. - John Beauprez, PLOQuickPro.com

WSOP

Bracelet

Winner

and

Founder

of

The days when you could be successful in poker by only playing and sometimes reviewing your own hands is long gone. If you are serious about improving and want to take your game to the next level, Mastering Small Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha is one of the best purchases you can make. - Einars, Amateur Poker Player Even though I have been a professional poker player and student for more than a decade, this is the first time I really feel like one. This is thanks to Fernando and the PLO Mastermind team. - Arthur aka pechcore, Yearly PLO Mastermind member I was able to move from playing low to mid-high stakes PLO in an incredibly short time frame by following Fernando’s coaching. He taught me how to think as a crusher and how to push myself every day to find new methods and new routines that could improve my game and my life as a whole.” - Diego Montone, Amateur Poker Player

Fernando Habegger

Fernando “JNandez” Habegger is a well established Pot Limit Omaha specialist and coach. He started playing in 2006 and then took a job as a poker dealer in order to get closer to the game. Towards the end of 2010, JNandez made the move from No-Limit Hold’em to PLO. He started playing $0.5/$1 PLO online after investing one third of his $15,000 bankroll to get the best PLO and mental game coaching available at the time. Since 2011, JNandez has made a profit every year playing mid- and highstakes PLO cash games and tournaments, with profits ranging from $150,000 to $400,000 per year from playing poker. He’s traveled to most of the major live poker stops and established himself as one of top PLO coaches in the game. In April 2018, JNandez launched the PLO Mastermind on JNandezPoker.com (now PLOMastermind.com), one of the biggest PLO training platforms in the world. His content has helped hundreds of members and students take their game and mindset to a new level. JNandez has travelled and documented the path to become a PLO crusher,

and now offers his roadmap so you can get started in Mastering Small Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha.

First published in 2020 by D&B Publishing Copyright © 2020 Fernando Habegger The right of Fernando Habegger to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978 1 912862 191 Cover by Horacio Monteverde. Printed and bound by Tallinna Raamatutrükikoda in Estonia. All sales enquiries should be directed to D&B Publishing: [email protected]

www.dandbpoker.com

Contents Introduction 01

A Modern Poker Approach

SECTION ONE: PREFLOP PLAY 02

Preflop Concepts Preflop Strategy Introduction Equity Distribution Stack-to-Pot Ratio Nuttiness and Calibration Preflop Sizing

03

Preflop Ranges First-In Raiser Cold-calling Fundamentals 3-Betting Fundamentals Facing a 3-Bet

Facing a 3-Bet at 200bb Limping Defending the Big Blind Versus One Opponent Defending the Big Blind Versus Multiple Players 04

Preflop Categories Category One: Aces Category Two: Broadway Pairs Category Three: Three Broadway Cards with One Non-Broadway Category Four: Double-paired Category Five: Rundowns Category Six: Two Broadway Cards with Two Medium-low Connectors Category Seven: Three Card Rundown with a Broadway Card Category Eight: Mid-low Pairs Category Nine: Ragged Hands

SECTION TWO: POSTFLOP PLAY 05

The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis Introduction to Postflop Strategy

The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis Pillar One: Equity Pillar Two: Polarization Pillar Three: Position Pillar Four: Stack-to-Pot Ratio (SPR) 06

Postflop Concepts C-betting Fundamentals Blockers and Bluffing

07

Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots Flop C-bet IP Strategy (Button Versus BB) Flop C-bet OOP Strategy (Cutoff versus Button) Single-raised Pots IP Turn Strategy Recap Traing Session Single-raised Pots OOP Turn Strategy Single-raised Pots IP River Strategy Putting it all Together Single-raised Pots OOP River Strategy

08

Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Introduction 3-bet Pots OOP Flop Strategy (SB Versus Button) 3-Bet Pots OOP on the Turn/River

3-bet Pots IP 09

Postflop Theory: Multiway Pots Introduction Multiway 3-Bet Pots Multiway Single-raised Pots

SECTION THREE: MISCELLANEOUS 10

Pot-Limit Omaha Live Live PLO Fundamentals Straddling Buy-in Strategies Running it Once or Twice? Thinking About Players Playing at the Aria

11

Away from the Table Bankroll Management The Mental Game Study to Play Ratio

Introduction I started playing poker online in the late 2000s after having played live poker for a couple of years. Online play was much more accessible for players around the world, and everyone could rail the biggest games in the world from their own house as hundreds of thousands of dollars flew over the table in the blink of an eye. The online poker dream was born. The players who won the most money in the early days of online poker were mainly the players who were the best live players and they had a very exploitative style of play. Some of those players still rank very high on the all-time biggest winners list in online cash games – simply because they took advantage of a new opportunity. After a few years, new technologies and software programs became available. These included equity calculators and tools to analyze ranges. Players rising to the top of the game started to work with this new software. This gave them a massive edge in creating a solid strategy. Since about 2015, we have witnessed the development of more powerful poker software, especially solvers. This has enabled a new crop of players to rise to the summit of the poker world. The current elite players have an excellent understanding of how to use these programs in order to find mistakes in their opponent’s strategies, while also improving their own. In today’s poker environment, solvers and other types of software play a huge role in the creation of successful strategies. Learning how to work with these programs can cost a lot of time, energy, and money. I understand this well because I have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours working with numerous different software programs to figure out how to beat my opponents. Over the last few years I have dedicated myself to researching the game, putting into practice what I have learned in some of the toughest online games and teaching these strategies to thousands of passionate poker players

who are serious about taking their PLO game to the next level. The information that you will find in this book comes from the thousands of hours that I put into playing, teaching, and studying Pot Limit Omaha. I have tried to create a fundamental blueprint that will increase your understanding of how to execute a winning PLO strategy. In addition to changes in technology, we are also seeing changes in poker formats. Initially Stud changed to Limit Hold’em as the main format and then in the last few decades No-Limit Hold’em has taken over. Nowadays, it is No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) tournaments that are thriving. NLHE cash is also being played almost everywhere. PLO gains traction in some cities more than others as well as during specific times such as tournaments. I remember each of the last few WSOP trips I’ve been on and I’ve been happy to see more tables offering PLO with each consecutive year. Many experienced players are now looking for a new challenge, and want to regain that excitement you feel for a game when you are first introduced to it and discovering how to play it. An important thing to mention is that I’ve often found that the PLO tables are often the most enjoyable place in the poker room. There is not as much tension in PLO because many decisions come naturally (although they may be wrong) and most players feel as if they have a shot at winning. The game offers more action and excitement to players who want to see a lot of flops and go all-in and think the game is similar enough to NLHE, where they understand the basics. Whatever stage you are at in your PLO development, this book will quickly take you through the basics and then into the deeper nuances of PLO. One of the biggest mistakes when approaching PLO is to play it like NLHE. If you’re someone who is ready for a new challenge within poker, then this book will have something for you. We’re going to start out right, by setting the stage for a correct approach to Pot Limit Omaha strategy. Fernando Habegger

01

A Modern Approach to Poker A Modern Poker Approach What is GTO? GTO stands for Game Theory Optimal. It describes a model in which two or more players have reached an equilibrium strategy. This is a situation in which all strategies are perfectly balanced and none of the players can do anything differently to increase their expected value (EV). If everyone at your table is “playing GTO”, it means that they are playing a strategy where they are not incentivized to change this strategy because they cannot increase their EV by doing so. In such a model, every player is aware of each other’s strategy. This means that if a player changes their strategy, every other player will understand this immediately and can start exploiting them. This model clearly doesn’t represent what happens in the real world and so the goal is not to blindly follow GTO. Our goal is to use GTO as a framework and then find the highest EV strategy by using observations about how our opponents deviate from GTO. The specific meaning of “GTO” is hotly debated in the poker community and has a lot of stigma attached to it. People have quite polarized opinions about the usefulness of GTO play. Some think it is the ultimate solution whereas others believe it’s not helpful at all and can even be misleading. At first glance, a GTO solution might seem random and hard to understand. But as we explore it more deeply, we become better at understanding the relevant patterns. The best poker players are exceptionally

good at connecting those patterns to overall poker principles. Working with GTO solutions is not about memorizing thousands of models, it’s about understanding the principles behind the patterns that emerge.

The GTO Framework GTO functions as a framework that helps us build a fundamental strategy. When learning which hands to play and how, whether to call or 3-bet, whether to check or c-bet postflop, we need a baseline strategy that introduces a solid foundation for each spot in the game. There is a concept known as maximum exploitation versus minimum exploitation. Maximum exploitation is about giving the information and reads that you have accumulated the ultimate power over your strategy. Playing a strategy that is massively influenced by the reads and information that you have about your opponents is very dangerous because if your read is wrong, you will lose a lot of money. By making extreme adjustments to your opponents, you also expose yourself to becoming exploited. For example, if you are going to always bluff the one guy who you think is folding a lot on the river, he might pick up on it because you are bluffing so often. He might then counter-exploit you, by trapping and calling off frequently. Rather than focusing on adjusting against individual opponents, I want to provide you with a solid framework for a strong PLO strategy. Once this is established, we will cover when and how to deviate from this baseline to maximize your EV. For a long time, poker was considered to be a game of reads and exploitation. Because of this legacy it is attractive to use reads and exploitation as your primary decision-making tool. However, the best exploitative strategy will always be built upon an initial solid baseline strategy.

GTO in Practice Unsurprisingly, many of the early advocates of GTO in poker have risen to the top of the game. Players such as LLinusLLove, OtB_RedBaron, Sauce123, and Ben86 all play a strategy based on GTO and are known to be some of the best poker players in the world. Ben86, considered one of the best PLO players, was once asked the following question on the Joey Ingram Poker Life Podcast, “What separates

the top 10 PLO players in the world from the top 100, and what separates both groups from the top 1000?” His answer was three-fold. ♦ “The Top 10 players have the strongest fundamental understanding of GTO, allied to an understanding of what should be happening in order to exploit what’s actually happening.” ♦ “The Top 100 players have the same fundamental quality, but the absolute skill level of execution is lower. Then there is also a subset of exploitative “Victor-type” (Isildur1), intuitive players. They are very good at executing an exploitative playing style and they are usually massively impacted by variance. It is no easy matter to be clear about who is running good and who is actually good.” ♦ “If everybody is playing cat and mouse, then there are going to be clearly superior players in that game. But when the ‘cat and mouse players’ run into the ‘GTO guys’ they can’t live.” Isildur1 had huge success in heads-up NLHE by playing an extremely aggressive style. He was frequently over-betting and bluffing. Although he wasn’t playing a GTO strategy, it worked. That was because many of his opponents weren’t good enough to know how to counter this style. You will see this happening very often in low level poker, where one player has a specific set of plays that are working very well within a specific player pool. However, as this player climbs the ranks they run into smarter opponents and get stuck. Playing mostly by intuition is not a long-term recipe for success. In today’s NLHE games, the GTO players are consistently dominating the exploitative ones. Ben86 also seems to refer to variance. The top 100 players will not always be there because they have the strongest GTO understanding of the game, it’s also because there is a lot of variance in poker. Not just in all-ins and bad beats, everything from what you get dealt, in which positions, who got the weak player to make a costly play, etc. As a player, it can be difficult to really know how good someone really is or whether they are just running hot. The top 10 players have the strongest understanding of GTO and can quickly identify an imbalance in your game and adjust to exploit you. Ben86 says, “if everybody is playing cat and mouse there are going to be clearly superior players at that game.” What he means is that when everyone

is playing an exploitative strategy, there are going to be some people who understand how to exploit the population tendencies better than other players do. They have a superior understanding of the meta-game that is currently being played and they know how to exploit it. But when these primarily exploitative players run into the GTO guys, they can’t exploit them, and their weaknesses are revealed. The GTO guys are going to be able to “exploit” the intuitive players by understanding what makes them unbalanced and, at the same time, the GTO players will cap their own downside. That’s the real power of GTO. That’s why the top 10 players all have the strongest fundamental understanding of GTO.

GTO Versus Weak Opponents There is a huge misconception that when you play against weak opponents, you can focus on making reads and exploit them relentlessly simply because they play a terrible strategy. However, if you don’t know what your opponent is doing because they are unpredictable, then playing a GTO strategy can be extremely helpful. Our end goal is not to follow a GTO strategy but to build a better understanding of our opponent’s game. Reads are often more accurate and actionable if they are coming from a fundamental understanding of GTO. If you can spot how an opponent is deviating from GTO and how that makes him or her vulnerable to being exploited, you will be able to create an edge for yourself. That is going to be our goal. Most of the small stakes (and even many high stakes) players that you will face at your tables are going to be making massive mistakes. To generate an edge over them, you need to understand what those mistakes are and how to exploit them. It’s true that against recreational players, playing a balanced strategy to prevent getting exploited isn’t as important compared to situations when you are playing against pros, because recreational players won’t punish you as harshly. But you still want to cap your downside, especially when you don’t have much information about your opponent. There are four steps to identify your optimal strategy: ♦ Understand the baseline (identify GTO).

♦ Identify how your opponent deviates from GTO (find leaks). ♦ Exploit your opponent’s weakness (exploit). ♦ Cap the downside (limit downside). An easy example is the following. Let’s say that you are on the Button and you have to decide whether you want to raise or fold. You know that in GTO terms, the Button should raise 50% of his combos and the Big Blind (BB) is supposed to defend 60% of hands preflop against a pot raise (identify GTO). Based on the tendencies of your opponent in the BB so far you might believe they will only defend 40% instead of 60% (find leaks). A possible exploit could be to increase your Button open raising range from 50% up to 65% (exploit). You still shouldn’t extend your Button raising range much more than that because you don’t want to get counter-exploited and there is also the possibility that your read is wrong (limit downside). You want to keep your downside protected and the way to do this is by making meaningful, but minimal, exploits. Stick to your baseline and make slight adjustments based on your opponent’s tendencies. If you do this you make sure that your downside is protected in case your opponent picks up on your adjustments or your read turns out to be wrong.

How to Learn GTO We can only see GTO results in the form of a poker solver output. For example, a PLO solver suggests to open-raise A-A-5-2 UTG but to fold J-85-2. Thanks to billions of calculations the solver has calculated that one hand is a +EV raise and the other is not. That’s all the solver output we get. The solver doesn’t tell us why a hand is a raise, so we don’t know the reasons. This is where we, as humans, come into play. Our job is to make sense of the outputs by applying logic. We identify patterns and we attach ideas and principles to them. We test by developing a hypothesis, running solver experiments and comparing situations. Then we implement and test the strategies in the real world to build a deeper understanding of what is going on. The good news is you don’t have to worry about the concept of GTO or work with any solver output as I have already done this work. This is what I’ve been doing since 2017 when the first PLO solvers came out. I have spent thousands of hours researching GTO fundamentals and, in this book, I’ll

present it to you with easy-to-apply concepts. You will go through the process of building your solid baseline strategy and start learning how to maximize your win rate when other players are deviating from a “GTO strategy.”

Main Takeaways ♦ Against unknown players, start with a balanced strategy to play a strong game while minimizing your downside. ♦ Once you get more reads and information on your opponents, you can start to deviate from your baseline strategy. ♦ Make sure that you don’t over-adjust as doing so will expose you to significant risks. There are four steps to creating an optimal strategy: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Understand the baseline and use it to build solid principles. Identify in which way your opponents deviate from GTO. Exploit your opponents’ weaknesses. Limit your downside.

02

Preflop Play Preflop Strategy Introduction In this section, we will go over different preflop categories, explain the differences between Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) and No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), and cover the most important preflop concepts. The main goal of this introduction is that you gain an excellent understanding of the fundamentals so your preflop game can improve step-by-step in the subsequent chapters.

Preflop Equity in PLO and NLHE Most players are very likely coming to PLO from a NLHE background, so let’s start with a few key differences between the games. The most obvious (and fun!) difference is that in PLO you are dealt four cards. That doesn’t mean there are twice as many starting hands possible in PLO. In fact, there are 270,725 starting hand combinations whereas in NLHE there are only 1,326 possible combinations. The good news is that PLO is not like NLHE where you can learn all your opening ranges by heart. In PLO it is much more about understanding scenarios and principles rather than memorizing individual hand combinations. In the preflop section of the book, I will split up the different starting hands into various categories to help you develop a good intuition for which hands to open preflop and which hands to fold. I’ll also share with you some common traps new players often fall into, so you can avoid these mistakes and gain an immediate advantage over your opponents. After reading this

book, you will understand preflop patterns and know what to look for when deciding whether to open-raise or fold. Let’s start by developing an understanding of how to value and categorize your hand preflop. In PLO, preflop equities between hands are much smoother than in NLHE, meaning that preflop equities run much closer. If you get dealt Aces in NLHE, you will probably be very excited about the upcoming hand since you will have very high equity and therefore you will very often win. For example, if you have Aces and your opponent is holding Q♠-J♠, you will have about 81.5% equity. In PLO, if you have an extremely strong hand such as A♣-A♠-K♣-K♠ and your opponent holds J♠-9♥-7♠-6♥, you only have about 63% equity. This difference in equity can come as a frustrating surprise to some players. It is a common misunderstanding to think that because preflop equities run closer, it means there is less room for an edge in PLO, compared to NLHE. In reality the opposite is often the case because a lot of your opponents will use this as an excuse to justify playing very loose. This is a huge mistake and one that should allow you to print money against these players. Another reason players tend to play too many hands preflop in PLO is because the worst possible odds your opponents have to consider is 2-to-1 on a preflop call. Many players think that as long as they have 33% equity preflop, they should continue. As we will see later, this is not the case. By the way, the general rule for calculating the maximum raise size is: Take the previous bet, multiply it by 3, and then add that to what is already in the pot. For example, you are UTG in a 6-max $5/$10 game. To calculate the maximum opening raise, take the previous bet (in this case the $10 Big Blind). Then, multiply this by 3 ($10 x 3 = $30). Finally, add what is already in the pot, the $5 small blind. So, you could pot it to $35 in this situation ($10 Big Blind x 3) + $5 small blind. This means that if play is folded to the Big Blind, they would have to call $25 in a pot of $50. If the player in the Cutoff wanted to make a pot-size 3-bet, they would take the previous bet, which is your $35 open-raise. Multiply that raise by 3 ($35 x 3 = $105). Finally, add the rest of the pot, which is the small blind ($5) and

the Big Blind ($10). The maximum 3-bet size that the Cutoff can use is therefore $120 ($105 + $5 + $10 = $120). When it comes back to you, you would be facing an $85 call in a $170 pot, so again the odds are 2-to-1. Usually you don’t have to calculate the pot size yourself. If you are playing online, just click the pot or max Button to preview the size. If you are playing live, the dealer can calculate the pot size for you if you request it. What is important to keep in mind are the pot odds and how the other players consider them. How much of their strategy are they (or you) basing on simple pot odds?

The Difference Between Equity and Expected Value (EV) In PLO, the gap between the basic value of a hand and its situational value is often much greater than in NLHE. Basic value is based on a hand’s equity. For example, if you are holding Q♠-Q♥-J♠-10♦ and your opponent holds 9♣-8♣-7♠-6♠, your hand has 59.49% equity. You can figure out the preflop equities on a site such as propokertools.com. However, equity calculations such as this don’t take into account equity realization. They simply represent how often a hand is going to win versus another hand when they go all-in. When you think about basic value you don’t consider any future bets. This isn’t a realistic representation of your hand’s value unless you are going all-in and know for a fact you will realize all your hand’s equity by getting to showdown. Situational value adjusts the value of a hand based on the context of the situation, which creates a much more realistic picture as it takes equity realizability into account: whether you will under-realize or over-realize your equity. Giving situational value to a hand allows for the calibration of preflop ranges based on the particular situation. In PLO, situational value is extremely important, even more important than in NLHE. In this book, I will provide you with all the information and tools that you need to assess the situational value of a hand. In later chapters, we will discuss the concept of calibration in more depth but for now, you should know that it’s about adjusting your preflop range to the situation you are in or are headed into, based on numerous factors such as position, opponent tendencies and the number of players that have already entered the pot.

Equity Distribution What is (Flop) Equity Distribution? Many players think about preflop and postflop strategy separately but, in reality, they depend on each other. Let’s touch a little on the basics of postflop strategy and how that can help us determine which hands are profitable to play preflop and which aren’t. Flop equity distribution is the equity of specific hands or ranges that are distributed on the subsequent street. In simpler terms, it explains how we are flopping with our specific hand or range against the hand/range of our opponent(s) across all possible remaining streets. The first question you might ask yourself right now is, “when should I think about flop equity distribution?” You should think about flop equity distribution in every possible preflop scenario. At any point in the hand, you always have to determine if it’s profitable to invest additional money into the pot. Unless you’re all-in or close to it, the answer to this question will depend on how the subsequent streets are going to be played. This concept might sound very technical, so let’s jump in with a practical example (Diagram 1). This graph represents the flop equity distribution of all K-K-x-x hands against all A-A-x-x hands. In other words, it demonstrates the equity that Kings have versus Aces across all possible flops. Consider this, a tight player makes a 4-bet off a 100bb stack and we know that he only does this with Aces. What action should we take against his 4bet? In this situation, just as in any preflop scenario, the flop equity distribution profile of your hand versus your opponents’ range should be one of the main deciding factors in your decision.

Diagram 1 Flop equity distribution of K-K-x-x versus A-A-x-x On the vertical axis of the graph, you can see how much equity you are flopping with your range, versus your opponents’ range. On the horizontal axis, you can see the frequency percentage of boards where we flop that certain amount of equity. Kings versus Aces is known to have a “rough” equity distribution. That is, about 15% of the time Kings will flop a strong hand with at least 75% equity, usually meaning a set or two pairs. Then we see a steep dropoff in equity, when the Kings don’t out flop the Aces and are still behind the overpair. Most of the time, the flop equity with Kings versus Aces will be well below 40%. Back to the example. If you are holding Kings and you know that your opponent is holding Aces, should you call the 4-bet? Based on the graph, what do you think? The answer is no, you shouldn’t. Not if you’re sure that your opponent has Aces. Intuitively this might already make sense to you. We just don’t outdraw Aces often enough on the flop and are paying a steep price to see it.

Flop Equity Distribution of Other Hands Now think about the following hand: 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥. Should you call a 4-bet

with this double-suited rundown if you know your opponent is holding Aces? This hand’s flop equity distribution versus Aces looks like this (Diagram 2).

Diagram 2 Flop equity distribution of 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥ versus A-A-x-x As you can see, there is no steep dropoff in equity. The difference is apparent and equity distribution profiles like this are called “smooth” distributions. Again, you intuitively might already understand that you should call with this hand. But why exactly? ♦ 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥ will flop 60% equity or more 20% of the time. ♦ 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥ will flop 50% equity or more 40% of the time. ♦ 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥ will flop 35% equity or more 60% of the time. We can conclude that there are many different boards on which 8♠-7♠-6♥5♥ will flop enough equity to continue against a c-bet from our opponent postflop, which is an incredibly important factor when deciding if you should be calling or folding preflop. You will be able to realize your hand’s equity much more often versus an overpair. The equity distribution profile of Kings included a big inflection point

caused by the fact that we either flop a set or we don’t. The flop equity profile of 8-7-6-5 double-suited doesn’t have an inflection point, which makes the graph much more “smooth.” Hands that have a very rough equity distribution are generally not worth investing a lot of money into the pot preflop. You can compare it to setmining in NLHE, where you don’t want to invest a lot of Big Blinds calling with a hand such as 5-5 because it will mostly do well only if you flop a set. When you hold 5-5 in a big pot without a set, you will very often have to fold postflop versus continued aggression from your opponent. Hands that have a smooth equity distribution profile will flop a solid amount of equity on a high percentage of different boards. We don’t need a set to have a lot of equity versus a bare overpair. There are many combinations of pair plus draw or combo draws with high postflop equity. We also have better visibility, meaning we tend to know if we’re ahead or not more easily than we do with a pair of Kings. We will talk more about visibility in later postflop chapters. These two hands are quintessential PLO examples for flop distribution. While you must learn to think about the equity distribution profile of your hand or range, you shouldn’t think solely in terms of being either smooth or rough. A lot of hands will fall somewhere in between the two categories. As previously mentioned, there are additional principles to consider when deciding whether to play a hand which we will cover in the following chapters. For now, just know that preflop strategy depends strongly on what sort of postflop scenario you are setting up for yourself.

Main Takeaways ♦ The flop equity distribution profile of your hand or range can be a critical decision factor when determining what action to take preflop. ♦ Hands with a flop equity distribution that features a slowly descending amount of average equity across all boards are called smooth hands. For example: 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥. ♦ Hands that can flop very well occasionally but are more often just

mediocre or marginal hands are called rough hands, for example K♦K♠-9♣-2♥. These will have a steep drop-off in average equity across a number of boards. ♦ Smooth hands are often better propositions to invest additional chips into the pot preflop than rough hands.

Stack-to-Pot Ratio (SPR) What is SPR? Another key postflop concept to understand is stack-to-pot ratio (SPR). The SPR describes the relationship between your stack size and the size of the pot. Postflop decision-making in poker is largely affected by equity, position and the SPR. Understanding the relation between equity and SPR is the bread and butter of PLO stack-off situations. The smaller the SPR is, the less equity we need to stack off (go all-in). Let’s elaborate on this with an easy calculation. There is $100 in the pot and your stack is $400 which means that you have an SPR of 4-to-1 ($400/$100). In poker, even though it’s a ratio, SPR is usually expressed as a single number, in this case 4. If the SPR is low, e.g. 1 or 2, it means that you are playing with very shallow stacks and you will need less equity to stack off. If the SPR is higher, e.g. 6, you will need a lot more equity to stack off. In this book, we will use the term SPR frequently, and you will begin to understand how much equity you need at a particular stack depth to stack off correctly. The key numbers when dealing with the SPR are 1, 4 and 13. If you are at SPR 1, it takes one full pot-sized bet to get the money in. For SPR 4, it takes two full pot bets. And for SPR 13, it takes 3 full pot bets. In single-raised pots, the SPR is usually between 8 or 9 for heads-up pots, or 6 to 7 for multiway pots. In 3-bet pots, the SPR is usually 3.5 to 4 in heads-up pots, and closer to 2 in multiway pots. This means that overall, in most situations, you could get all the money in by the river. However, we are not always betting full pot and the focus is not on getting all the money in, it’s about making the highest EV decisions. If you want to succeed at PLO, you must understand the equities of your hand or range against your opponent’s range and you need to combine this with the SPR calculations.

SPR and Stacking-Off The next table (Diagram 3) should give you broad indications of how much

equity you need with what SPR to be able to stack off profitably. This assumes you have no fold equity with your raise.

Diagram 3 Remember that when deciding whether or not to stack-off, you shouldn’t compare the EV of stacking off only to folding or a break-even situation. You should also be comparing it to the EV of calling. Calling can be the highest EV play even in medium-low SPRs, especially when you are in position because it allows you to use your positional advantage over multiple streets. You are also calling sometimes with near 100% equity, such as when slowplaying. The takeaway from this table is that once you get to SPR 5 or above, you don’t want to be routinely getting it in light on the flop. By light, I mean against a range that will have you dominated. The thing is that as the SPR increases, your opponents are willing to stack off with stronger hands and in PLO it very often ends up being the nuts or a dominating combo draw unless

the stacks are very shallow. In multiway pots you also want to tighten up your stack-off threshold, even when the SPR is comparatively lower. This is because you’re now facing multiple opponents and the chances of running into a better hand are greater. It is also possible to run into multiple strong hands. When an opponent is potting the flop with a low SPR, and seemingly committing to the hand, you should use the previous table and calculate the stack-off profitability. If you’re facing a half-pot bet at a higher SPR, you probably have some flop fold equity and can justify stacking off and bluffraising a part of your range. In the table below (Diagram 4), you can see how having just a little bit of fold equity significantly decreases the stack-off equity required to breakeven.

Diagram 4 We will discuss SPR more in depth in future single-raised pots and 3-bet pots chapters. For now it is just important for you to know what SPR is, so you will be able to understand how it all comes together with the concepts of nuttiness and calibration to affect your preflop range construction.

Studying Preflop Strategy In PLO, it’s not possible to memorize all hand combinations for each situation. What we can do is to split hands up into different categories. Here we will assign nine different categories into which a hand can be placed. Before we do that, let’s clarify a few terms. ♦ Rainbow means that you hold exactly four cards with four different suits. For example, A♦-A♣-5♥-6♠ or Q♦-7♥-3♠-2♣. ♦ Single-suited means that you hold exactly two, three or four cards from

the same suit. For example, A♥-K♥-Q♠-J♣ or 10♠-9♠-8♠-7♠. ♦ Double-suited means that you hold precisely two cards from two different suits. For example Q♦-10♦-8♣-6♣ or A♦-K♦-K♣-J♣. We can use the nine preflop categories as a structural separation of all the preflop combinations. Keep in mind that these categories do not imply a strength difference; they are only used to provide an overview of all the possible hand combinations. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9)

Unpaired single-suited Unpaired double-suited Unpaired rainbow One pair single-suited One pair double-suited One pair rainbow Two pair single-suited Two pair double-suited Two pair rainbow

All possible starting hands fall into one of these categories. As you can see in the table below (Diagram 5), the nine categories vary greatly in terms of strength and in terms of how often they get dealt to you.

Diagram 5 Frequency of Being Dealt Hand Categories This chart shows that it is very likely that you will get dealt an unpaired single-suited hand as this happens 51.8% of the time. The probability of getting a double-paired hand is very low. In this chapter, I will very briefly discuss the different categories. The main goal here is to familiarize you with

the words and terms, so please don’t try to memorize all the exact categories and frequencies.

Unpaired Single-suited Let’s briefly break down the unpaired single-suited category into more detail. An example of a hand in this category would be A♠-K♣-Q♦-J♠. This hand belongs in the top 6% of strongest hands when it comes to basic value. Another hand in this category, 6♦-5♣-3♣-2♣, is in the bottom 11% of PLO hands. Why exactly does this second hand rank so low? It looks nice enough and you might think that it’s easy to make straights with this hand. A lot of these low hands are actually very weak because these hands will give you a lot of weak made hands (such as bottom two pairs) and draws (such as low straights) that can easily be dominated by your opponents. In PLO, it is very important that you play the right hands preflop to avoid being dominated postflop. Playing a lot of weak hands that are easily dominated is one of the easiest and most common ways to burn money. Especially, as mentioned before, if you rely on pot odds and miscalculate your hand’s profitability and equity realization on future streets. In Pot-Limit Omaha High Cards are Still Best In PLO, just as in NLHE, high cards usually win. Players mistakenly overvalue hands with low suits and low rundowns because these hands look good. You want to play hands based on their components and on the value they have in specific situations.

Suit Types Hands with two, three or even four cards of the same suit all fall into the “single-suited” category. However, the strength of these hands can be quite different. A hand with four cards of the same suit, such as A♠-K♠-9♠-8♠, is much worse than the same hand with only two of the same suit, e.g. A♠-K♥9♥-8♠. It’s simply a lot harder to make a flush when you hold four cards of the same suit as you already block two of your potential flush outs. When I mention hands with three cards of the same suit I will call them “trip-suited hands” and hands with four cards of the same suit will be called “monotone hands”. Therefore, there are three types of single-suited hands in this category.

♦ Single-suited A♠-K♦-Q♠-J♥ ♦ Trip-suited A♠-K♠-Q♠-J♦ ♦ Monotone A♠-K♠-Q♠-J♠ Another point to note is that higher-value hands have the highest suits but don’t block the second highest suit. For example, A♠-K♥-Q♦-10♠ is great because when you make a flush, you can easily get paid by a King-, Queenor Jack-high flush. Equity wise, it might be similar to a hand such as A♠-K♠Q♦-10♣ but it will have better situational value. Avoid monotone and tripsuited hands that have less outs to make a flush and a smaller chance to run into weaker flushes.

Double-paired Double-paired hands are only dealt to you about 1% of the time and they vary quite a lot in strength. The main strength of double-paired hands is their ability to flop a set, which they do about 21% of the time. J♣-J♦-10♣-10♠ is an example of a double-paired single-suited hand, and it falls into the top 4% of hands in PLO. 4♠-4♥-3♦-3♣ however, would be in the bottom 29% of hands. Again, how high your paired hands rank and its suit play a big part in determining the strength of your hand.

Main Takeaways ♦ We identified two different methods to evaluate hand strength in PLO: Basic Value and Situational Value. ♦ Basic Value is concerned only about the equity of your hand. This matters when going all-in. ♦ Situational Value is based on the current strategic factors. ♦ Exactly how high your suit and individual cards are is very important. High cards are still the best in most scenarios. Having the Ace-high suit and not blocking the King-high and Queen-high suits increases the value of your hand. ♦ Low cards and suits devalue your hand and make it more likely you end up dominated by your opponent.

Nuttiness and Calibration Introduction In this section, we will discuss the basics of nuttiness and calibration. These two concepts can help you to determine accurately the expected value (EV) of starting hands in different scenarios.

Nuttiness The nuttiness of a hand describes the likelihood that your starting hand will make the nuts on either the flop, turn or the river. Hands that are considered “nutty” perform especially well in multiway pots. If multiple players enter the pot, it is very likely that one or two players end up connecting with the flop. Since you already know this is going to happen, you want to make sure you have “nutty” or nutted hands that have the potential to dominate your opponents. For example, you want to have an Ace-high flush when your opponent is holding the Queen-high flush. Let’s illustrate this concept with an example. Compare the following two hands, which one do you think scores highest in “nuttiness”? Hand 1: A♠-8♦-7♠-6♣ Hand 2: J♥-10♥-7♦-6♦ Hand 1 is the more nutted hand because it contains an Ace-high suit and it is possible to make the nut flush with this hand. This hand is also better connected with the 8-7-6, and will allow you to make some nut straights. Hand 2 is non-nutted. You cannot make the nut flush with either suit. While you can technically end up with a straight flush, that is very unlikely. Also, the hand is more disconnected and has the potential to make more nonnut straights. It is important to note that you shouldn’t approach this comparison by thinking in terms of which hand is “better”. You want to determine the strengths of each hand in different circumstances, not which hand is the strongest. Understand that these two hands have different qualities which makes them better qualified for different situations.

A♠-8♦-7♠-6♣ has more nutted components, so it performs better in multiway pots, whereas Q♥-10♥-7♦-6♦ is a very smooth hand which means that it is often going to flop some piece of the board and therefore performs better in heads-up pots.

Context and Calibration To determine which hand is “better”, you need to understand the context. In different situations, different hand qualities are important. It is up to you to understand the context of the situation you are in and what hands are best suited for it. Let’s go through a few examples of different contexts and what type of hands are best suited for each. Hand Example 1 The Cutoff raises pot to 3.5 bbs. You are on the Button with A♠-8♦-7♠-6♣ (Diagram 6). What action should you take?

Diagram 6 With this hand, you should call. Why? Because the strength of this hand is its ability to make the nuts. You want to encourage more opponents into the pot who might be holding hands with weaker connectivity and weaker spades so you can dominate them in the event that you hit a nut flush or a nut

straight. Hand Example 2 The Cutoff raises to 3.5x. You are on the Button with Q♥-10♥-7♦-6♦ (Diagram 7). What action should you take?

Diagram 7 You should 3-bet with this hand. Given the hand’s low nuttiness, you gain more EV from pushing out the players behind you who might be holding higher-ranked cards and suits that are dominating you. This hand flops very smooth, which means that it’s going to do well in a 3-bet pot or even a 4-bet pot. Now, this doesn’t mean that you should 3-bet every double-suited disconnected hand from every position. This is where preflop calibration becomes important.

Calibration Preflop calibration is the process of constructing your preflop ranges optimally based on the situation and other ranges in play. We calibrate a Big Blind defending range based on:

♦ How many players are involved ♦ Those player’s preflop ranges Continuing on from earlier, let’s consider another example. Hand Example 3 The EP player raises and gets two callers. You are on the Button with A♦-J♦J♠-3♣ (Diagram 8). What is the correct play?

Diagram 8 Call. There are already three players in the pot, so you are looking for nuttiness. This hand can flop the nut flush (draw), a strong top set or a nut straight (draw). If the hand was only suited to the Jack, and not the Ace, this hand would be devalued and, here, simply a fold. If double-suited, the hand is strong enough to 3-bet in order to (hopefully) push out a player or two, thereby improving the strength of the Jack-high flush while still being able to dominate with the Ace-high suit. This is a common situation if you are playing low stakes or if you are playing live poker. Remember that you need to calibrate your ranges based on the games that you are playing. If your games play very loose, you need to account for more multiway pots and calibrate your preflop ranges towards

nutted hands. In those games, most of the money you make will come from dominating your opponent’s hands and draws. Similarly, most of the money you lose will come from being dominated yourself, so avoid that at all costs! Hand Example 4 The EP player raises and gets two callers. You are on the Button with J♥9♠-8♦-7♥ (Diagram 9). What should you do?

Diagram 9 Hopefully you can identify that you should just fold. You should instinctively think, this situation requires a nutted hand because there are already three players in the pot. Or, this hand is non-nutted, which means that it’s not the right hand to call with in a multiway pot. If you’re still thinking that this hand is extremely connected, and therefore you have a good chance to make the nut straight, you are partially right. This hand indeed looks decent and is connected. But, it is important to stop and really think about the cold calling ranges of the players before you. Your opponents should be holding hands that directly dominate you, such as K♦-Q♦-J♣-10♠ or A♥-J♠-10♥-9♦. If you flop a straight or straight draw, it’s somewhat likely an opponent has a better one or the same one plus a redraw. Calling with a hand such as J♥-9♠-8♦-7♥ will often get you into a

troublesome spot where you are dominated and could potentially lose a lot of money. In reality, your hand is not very strong. The gap at the top of the hand means your straight draw with the J-9 will be weak. It’s quite easy for your opponents to dominate your made hands or draw. In low rake environments, you might be able to call with your hand in position versus one opponent or open in late position yourself. In most small stakes games however, the higher rake in bb/100 will turn playing this hand into a slightly -EV play.

Main Takeaways ♦ The nuttiness of a hand describes the likelihood that your starting hand will make the nuts on either the flop, turn or on the river. Nuttiness matters most in multiway pots, where multiple players hit a piece of the flop and you often enter a game of postflop domination. Nuttiness matters less (but still matters) in low stack-to-pot ratio heads-up scenarios. ♦ Calibration is the process of constructing your preflop ranges optimally based on the precise situation and the ranges in play. You will need to know how to effectively calibrate your ranges if you want to maximize your profit. Calibration means that instead of asking which hands are the best, you need to ask which hands are best structured for the specific scenario you are in.

Preflop Sizing Introduction Most players don’t critically think about the preflop sizes they use and simply adopt the sizing preferences that are most common in the game they are playing. In this chapter, we will examine what raise sizing you should use and why it is so important.

Winning the Blinds Raising preflop to the maximum is the standard in PLO as it allows you to win the blinds more often and play an unraked pot. Why is winning the blinds so important? You are probably thinking something along the lines of “1.5 blinds is such a small amount; why would I even care about that?” That’s a good question. A lot of poker players have the misconception that winning the blinds and antes is only important in tournaments, once stacks are getting shallow and picking up the blinds can give a significant boost to your total stack. This is not true. In fact, one can say that the main goal of any cash game is to win the blinds! Let’s illustrate this point with some easy math. Winning the blinds equals a win of 1.5bb, which equals a win rate of 150bb over one hundred hands. That’s an unbelievably high win rate! If you were able to consistently steal the blinds, you would be the biggest cash game winner in the world. In reality, the best online players are winning about 5 to 10bb/100 and the best live players win about 20 to 40bb/100. It should be clear to you why picking up the blinds uncontested is so essential. If your raise isn’t large enough, your opponents have an added incentive to defend their blinds with a greater number of hands as the price they are getting justifies it. By selecting a larger sizing, you make it less profitable for the blinds to defend their blind and you increase your win rate. Furthermore, pots that only play preflop and don’t see a flop are typically

unraked. This means that you don’t have to split your profits from the hand with the casino or poker site if you take down the pot preflop. You want to maximize your preflop fold equity that you have so you pick up an unraked pot as often as possible, and the way to do this is by using the maximum preflop open-raising size.

Maximizing EV Raising to full pot allows you to have a higher chance of winning the blinds, and it also helps you build bigger pots when you are holding a strong hand. On the other hand, when you are raising to 3.5 Big Blinds, you are also risking a lot of money - 350bb/100 in fact. That’s why you don’t want to enter the pot with extremely weak holdings. In a many live games, you will find that your opponents are coming into the pot with a very wide range, regardless of how big you open. If this occurs in the games you play, you still want to focus on playing nutty hands, and you should open-raise as large as possible. This combination will allow you to build big pots when you have hands that dominate your opponents, a recipe for PLO success.

Common Mistakes with Raise Sizing The most common mistakes that players make when it comes to raise sizing are: ♦ Open-raising too small; if you want to open the action, you should pot it. ♦ 3-betting too small. ♦ Open-limping. There are only a few exceptions in which these three lines of action are legitimate options. In PLO tournaments it can make sense to open-raise smaller or to open limp. Stacks are much shallower in PLO tournaments and in many late game situations you want to protect your tournament life by minimizing variance and the size of the pot. Also, limping in PLO tournaments can be optimal as there is no rake taken from individual pots, which means that taking down the pot preflop isn’t as crucial as in cash games. But unless you are playing a tournament, you should avoid open limping, and you should open-raise and 3-bet to the full

size of the pot.

Main Takeaways ♦ The goal of any poker cash game is to win the blinds. Winning 1.5 Big Blinds doesn’t sound like much, but it is effectively a 150bb per 100 hands win rate. ♦ You want to maximize your chances of winning the blinds to increase your overall win rate and avoid getting a fraction of the pot due to losing money to the rake. Therefore, you should open-raise and 3-bet to the maximum (pot) size. ♦ In tournaments your raise size might change, especially in the later stages. This is because pots aren’t raked, stack sizes are shallow, and there are tournament life or ICM considerations.

03

Preflop Ranges First-in Raiser Baseline Strategy A baseline strategy will give you solid and profitable open-raising ranges that you can always use. We’ll call this your standard raise first in (RFI) range. At 100bb deep on a 6-handed table, the following RFI frequencies define your GTO baseline strategy: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

From EP open about 19% From MP open about 23% From the Cutoff open about 31% From the Button open about 48% From the Small Blind open about 35%

From here, you can make (minor) adjustments based on other players’ tendencies and stack sizes at your table. For example, if the players behind you are playing very aggressively, you will want to open fewer hands. If the players behind you play a very loose and passive strategy, you’re better off removing some of the less nutty hands from your opening ranges, as these hands will suffer in multiway pots. This should give you a broad sense of how your range widens as you get closer to the Button. One small thing to take into account is how to calculate these percentages of hands. A good rule of thumb to consider is that Aces are about 2.5% of all hands. You are pretty much playing all Aces (except some A-A-A hands)

from every position. Therefore, from EP and MP positions, Aces make up about 10% of your opening range. Kings and Queens therefore, are also about 2.5% of all hands each. That said, you are not raising all Kings and Queens from every position. A hand such as K♠-K♣-7♥-2♥ is usually an open fold, unless you’re on the Button or Small Blind. It’s usually fine to play a better Kings hand such as K♠-K♣-7♥6♥. Similarly, a hand such as Q♠-Q♣-10♦-2♠ is usually a fold before the Cutoff, and Q♠-Q♣-9♦-2♠ should be folded even from the Cutoff. Overall, if your hand is disconnected it’s really going to need to have a very strong suit or high ranking cards for it to be open-raised. The exception to this rule is Aces, because you can profitably 4-bet them and still dominate Kings and Queens hands that cold call preflop. Another common mistake is opening low ranking cards because they are connected. While a hand such as 9♣-8♠-7♦-5♣ looks nice, in reality it’s a very weak hand to open-raise (or cold-call) with. This is especially true if you think the pot will go multiway. It’s so easy to be dominated when holding this hand and, importantly, very difficult to dominate your opponents – which should be one of your goals. Imagine you play a hand such as 9♣-8♠-7♦-5♣ and get a 9♠-8♥-4♥ flop facing two opponents. Looks pretty good, right? Top two pair and a gutshot straight draw. The problem is, your opponents are typically going to be playing higher ranking cards, so they can have hands such as top pair and a flush draw, J-10 with a flush draw, Q-J-8, A-K-9, J-10-9, Q-Q-J, etc. If you get action on the flop, you should not be happy with your hand here. Moreover, how are you going to play if the turn is a 10 or higher or a heart? You’re now stuck. You want to get to showdown cheaply and have no idea if the turn improved your opponent’s hand (somewhat likely) or what you will want to do on the river. And this was after flopping top two pair! That’s why a hand such as Q♠-J♣-10♠-8♦ is already a lot more playable, especially in games where others are calling with weaker rundowns. Being selective about the hands you play will end up paying off big time.

Main Takeaways ♦ When you join a new table where you don’t know your opponents’ strategies, start with using standard or GTO RFI frequencies. When you get more information about your opponents, you can adjust your ranges. ♦ The top percentage of hands is not completely linear. You are looking for

strong suits, connected hands, and high ranking cards. If one of these is missing, it is unlikely to be an open-raise from earlier positions. If two are missing, it’s likely you should only raise from the Button. ♦ If you expect multiway pots, focus strongly on nutty hands. Hands that can dominate and are not easily dominated. That’s the best structural advantage to gain and the easiest way to avoid huge mistakes. ♦ Remember, single-suited hands make up around 75% of hands, so be very selective about which ones you play. Suited hands are very common and weak unless they have very high and connected cards.

Cold-calling Fundamentals Introduction When we refer to cold-calling ranges in this chapter, it applies to situations in which you are facing a single raiser and you are in position. So, you are sitting in either MP, the Cutoff, or the Button, and you are facing an openraise by a player from one of the earlier positions. In later chapters we discuss Big Blind and multiway situations. For now, the goal is to give you a sound fundamental understanding of cold-calling in position against a single open-raiser.

Frequencies and Positional Awareness As when open-raising, the closer you are to the Button, the more you should increase your cold-calling frequency. This is even true when facing the same opening range. For example, against an EP raiser you should aim to cold call about 4.8% in MP, 7.2% in the Cutoff and 15.7% on the Button. The difference between the Middle Position and the Button is 300%. The more likely it is that you will have guaranteed postflop position, the wider your cold-calling range should be. Another key point to keep in mind is that when your position is better, your calling range increases and your 3-betting range decreases. So, from the Button, 3-betting marginal hands is not nearly as necessary as from middle position. For example, from MP against an EP raise, you should call with about 5% of hands and 3-bet with about 5.2%. From the Button against an EP raise, you should call 15.7% and 3-bet with just 3.5%. In the next chapter, we will discuss why this is the case. For now, just keep in mind that your 3-bet range is always going to influence your cold-calling range. Many players misunderstand this concept. They think that you should be very aggressive and 3-bet a lot from the Button because you have guaranteed position. But that is not true. In fact, when you have guaranteed position, you benefit from keeping the SPR higher as this gives you more room to maneuver postflop and a greater positional advantage. When you are on the Button, you have a lot more incentive to just call.

That doesn’t mean that when you have a great hand, you don’t want to 3-bet. It just means that the Cutoff and MP positions have more incentive to 3-bet marginal hands, because they benefit from pushing out players behind and gaining position. The Button knows there is no one who can have position on them, so they benefit comparatively less from 3-betting and more from just calling. This results in the Button being considerably more passive and playing a wider range.

Middle Position Versus Early Position So what exactly are the hands that you should cold call with from MP versus EP? In this situation, you are facing a tight UTG open raising range, and four more players are sitting behind you who still have to act. If you decide to call, the chances are very high that you are going to see a multiway flop. So the essential factor in this situation is nuttiness. You are looking for high suits, strongly connected hands and high pairs. The hands that are good enough to call in this situation are usually a hybrid of these factors and they need to be able to dominate your opponents postflop in a multiway pot (Diagram 10).

Diagram 10 Some examples are:

A♥-J♥-10♠-2♠ This hand has high suits and high card connectivity. This is a combination that makes this hand very nutted and therefore it should be called. A♥-K♠-5♥-2♠ The connectivity of this hand is worse than the previous example but the suits are higher. For that reason, this hand should also be added to your MP calling range. 7♦-6♣-5♦-4♣ When a hand lacks high cards, the connectivity has to be extremely good to play the hand profitably. With low cards, you want rundowns without gaps in them. This hand is a perfect rundown and is an example of an extremely connected hand that should also be added to your calling range. A♣-10♣-10♥-2♥ This hand features a Broadway pair combined with a high suit. The nuttiness of this hand is still good and therefore it should be called against an EP open-raise.

Button Versus Early Position The main difference here is that the MP and Cutoff have already folded and therefore the pot is less likely to go multiway. Furthermore, you have guaranteed position. Remember – right now we are only discussing situations where we face one raiser without callers. If another player were to cold-call before you, then you need to adjust your range towards more nutted hands, because you are going to face other nutted hands. As mentioned, the Button is supposed to call 15.7% and 3-bet 3.5% against an EP open-raise. What are some of the hands that are calling on the Button versus EP that you would never play in middle position? On the Button, facing one opponent, nuttiness matters slightly less and playability becomes more critical. As the hand is likely to go heads-up or three-way, you can add more non-nutted hands to your preflop hand range (Diagram 11).

Diagram 11 Some examples of hands that are not good enough to call from MP but that are good enough to call from the Button are: Q♥-J♠-10♥-2♠ This hand has good connectivity and suitedness, but it isn’t as nutted as some of the previous examples discussed, such as A♥-J♥-10♠-2♠. For that reason, this hand shouldn’t be called from MP. The playability of this hand in position is great and, because of that, this hand can be called profitably from the Button. K♠-Q♠-J♥-6♥ This is the same story. This hand has high suits and good connectivity but because of the dangler, the 6♥, this hand shouldn’t be called from MP. 7♣-6♣-5♣-4♦ The connectivity of this hand is excellent but it lacks high cards and is trip-suited. For these reasons this hand should be folded from MP. However, from the Button, where the thresholds to call are a bit lower, this hand should be called.

Q♦-J♠-J♣-2♦ The connectivity and suitedness of this hand are okay but not amazing. The nuttiness isn’t good enough to afford a call from MP. But from the Button, this hand has enough positive components to call.

Main Takeaways ♦ As you get closer to the Button, your calling range increases and your 3betting range decreases. This is because calling allows you to use your positional advantage postflop. ♦ From earlier positions, you should focus more on nuttiness. From the Button, where multiway pots are less likely and you are able to leverage a positional advantage, playability is more important.

3-Betting Fundamentals Introduction 3-betting is a big part of PLO, especially given how many players rarely fold after getting 3-bet. These big pots can have a massive influence on your win rate, so let’s ensure that you have the right fundamentals and the proper 3betting preflop ranges.

To Call or to 3-Bet Keep in mind that when you decide to 3-bet, you are giving up on coldcalling, and vice versa. You must understand the benefits of both options since they are mutually exclusive. When you 3-bet, you will often play a heads-up pot since the other players at the table now have to make a much bigger preflop investment to enter the pot. In 3-bet pots, the SPR is much lower than in single-raised pots. In 3-bet pots at 100bb, the SPR will be around 4, which means that you will very often be playing for stacks. When you are cold-calling an open-raise, it’s more likely that you will end up in a multiway pot, especially if you are cold-calling from one of the early positions. In live games or small stakes online games, many pots will go multiway because you are likely facing a lot of players with very wide preflop ranges who don’t adjust correctly for multiway play. Single-raised pots at 100bb will usually play at an SPR of around 13 which means that you need a much stronger hand to stack off on the flop, especially when you are playing multiway.

Positional Advantage Another key difference is that when the SPR is low, as in 3-bet pots, the out of position player has less of a positional disadvantage given that they can more easily go all-in on the flop or turn. That means that they can often avoid playing the river out of position. The river is a tricky street to play in PLO, given how often the nuts change and how that impacts the out of position player.

In high SPR situations, the out of position player has to play all three streets with this situational drawback. This robs them of EV which is, in turn, gained by the IP player. So, having a high SPR increases the IP player’s positional advantage, as they can leverage it through multiple streets.

Reasons to 3-bet Please note that this explanation is a simplified version to introduce you to why and when you should consider 3-betting preflop. In further chapters, we will analyze this concept in more detail. We have already indicated that a 3-bet pot leads to a low SPR scenario, where players are likely to stack off on the flop or turn. Your opponents know that they can stack off with a piece of the flop and something to go with it. If they hit a pair and a draw, or a combo draw, they are happy to go all-in. Therefore, your goal in 3-bet pots is to dominate your opponent in such stack-off scenarios. The best hands to accomplish that goal are pair plus draw type hands that dominate your opponents’ similar holdings. Ideally, you want to flop top pair and a high flush or straight draw versus middle pair and weak flush or straight draw. You need to accomplish this postflop goal by constructing your 3-betting range with this precise purpose in mind. Therefore, there are two main reasons to 3-bet: 3-bet to Push an Equity Edge You should 3-bet hands that want to build a big pot with an equity advantage. The main type of 3-betting value hands are A-A-x-x, A-K-K-x, and A-Q-Q-x. An additional type are double-suited high cards, which are hands that are double-suited, have very good connectivity and Broadway or near-Broadway cards or pairs. Altogether, these amount to only about 3.5% of all hands. 3-bet for Better Playability The second reason to 3-bet is for playability. Hands that want to 3-bet for playability often have a very smooth equity distribution, meaning that they flop good equity on a large number of flops. These hands are also non-nutted, so they are not optimized for multiway pots. This means that 3-betting becomes more appealing to make the pot heads-up. This category includes a lot of non-nutty high double-suited rundowns. They still need to mostly feature high ranking cards because you are hoping to dominate your

opponent’s postflop stack-off range. Even though they lack nuttiness, their equity versus the range of just one player is quite high and they add a lot of playability to your range going into a low SPR postflop scenario.

Realizability In 3-bet pots, the money will very often end up getting all-in. For that reason, your hands must have the potential to realize all of their equity. You want to 3-bet hands that are happy with putting in all the money postflop at an SPR of 4. Hands such as high double-suited rundowns are often able to stack off because they frequently flop a pair or better alongside a decent draw. If you think back to the flop equity distribution profile, you know that 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥ had a much smoother equity distribution. This hand will have a much easier time realizing equity because you often flop enough equity to call an all-in bet from your opponent. When you flop a flush draw in a 3-bet pot you can very rarely get away from it. This also holds true for your opponent, so you want to make sure that you have the better flush draws and straight draws so you have a ton of equity versus your opponents in big pots. By the way, 8♠-7♠-6♥-5♥ is a hand that you should 3-bet from the Cutoff versus MP to push out the Button behind you, but flat from the Button when facing a raise since there’s no one behind to push out and gain position.

3-betting for Value If you are 3-betting for value, you are looking to build a big pot with a hand that has a raw equity advantage. For example, when you are holding Aces, most of the time you 3-bet because you want to get a lot of chips into the pot preflop. You also give opponents the option to 4-bet, which would be even more profitable. If you just call with Aces, your opponent doesn’t have the option to 4-bet and you lose that extra EV. A further reason to 3-bet Aces is that they tend to perform better in low SPR scenarios, where they can dominate stack-off hands with a nut flush draw or at least do well enough versus pair plus draw hands to go all-in after c-betting. In single-raised pots, Aces would more often not be able to realize their equity and end up losing more often by not getting to showdown. To be clear, I am saying that your hand has to play better in a 3-bet headsup pot compared to a single-raised multiway pot. I am not saying that your hand should play exceptionally well in a 3-bet pot. Do you see the

difference? Let’s use an example to analyze this concept further. You are holding A♠-A♣-9♠-3♠. This hand is not going to do amazingly well in a 3-bet pot because both the suitedness and connectivity are weak but it’s going to do much worse in a multiway pot. When you are in a singleraised multiway pot, your hand needs additional features to be able to realize your equity. In a multiway pot, there will very often be at least one player who flopped a piece of the board and decides to bet. To continue against this bet, you will need to have pretty high equity. A hand such as A♠-A♣-9♠-3♠ won’t be able to continue postflop unless you flop a set or a nut flush draw. So you want to 3-bet that hand to try and play a heads-up pot at a low SPR so you can push your equity on a greater number of flops. The final reason you want to 3-bet for value is that you benefit from preflop fold equity. If you win a hand preflop after somebody already invested additional money in the pot, you will pay no rake because the hand didn’t go to the flop and that will generate a tremendous win rate! You always want to compare the options of cold-calling and 3-betting in preflop scenarios. Even if you have a hand that might not do exceptionally well in 3-bet pots, you might still want to consider 3-betting because it might do even worse in a multiway single-raised pot.

3-Betting for Playability The main reason to 3-bet for playability is to push out players behind you and to get the pot heads-up. Hands that want to 3-bet for playability, in general, aren’t very nutty, so they hugely benefit from pushing out players behind you who hold higher suits. Here is an example You are in the Cutoff and you face a pot-size open-raise from early position. You are holding Q♣-J♥-9♣-8♥ (Diagram 12). This hand is very well connected and has a very smooth equity distribution profile. It will connect with many different board textures but it lacks nuttiness. Therefore this hand plays better in a heads-up pot than a multiway pot. Players behind you could hold suits that dominate yours, so you benefit from pushing them out of the pot. These reasons mean this hand should be 3bet. With this hand, you will often flop a substantial amount of equity, such as a pair plus draw, and will be able to put all the money in on the flop or take the pot down with a c-bet. If you were instead in a pot with multiple

opponents, you would likely be in a bad spot when the money goes in because one of your opponents will show up with a dominating suit and the other one could have a stronger made hand.

Diagram 12

Main Takeaways There are two reasons to 3-bet. To build a bigger pot with a hand that: ♦ Has a raw equity advantage. ♦ Plays better heads-up, rather than in a multiway pot. ♦ Benefits from preflop fold equity. For playability in order to: ♦ Push out players behind you with dominating hands that can’t call a 3bet, but would come along if you call. ♦ Play your hand in a higher EV context, as it plays better in a low SPR heads-up pot compared to a multiway pot. ♦ Secure positional advantage and push out the players behind you who

have position.

Facing a 3-Bet Introduction When facing a 3-bet, there are three possible scenarios that all have different EV’s attached to them: 1) You can 4-bet, which is mainly done with Aces, some A-K-K and double-suited Ace-high rundowns. 4-betting with a range such as this generates very high EV. 2) Calling the 3-bet. In that case, you can end up recouping a portion of your initial investment (the open-raise) but the EV of calling will almost always be lower than your initial open-raise EV. Very often, the EV of calling a 3-bet is negative but still preferable to folding and giving away your original 3.5bb completely. 3) Folding means you are giving up on your entire preflop investment. The reason that you fold a part of your open-raising range is because it will lose more money in a 3-bet pot compared to simply folding. This part of your range is usually badly dominated by your opponent’s 3betting range and also lacks equity realizability. This means that you will often get all the money in on the flop while dominated and having minimal equity. Alternatively you end up having to check-fold too much. Hands that are part of this folding range are usually big pairs or high cards that don’t have additional backup in the form of being double-suited or by being strongly connected. Many players have a misconception when it comes to countering 3-bets in PLO. They often think that they don’t have to fold against 3-bets, but this is incorrect. Weak hands will lose more money by calling and that’s just a fact. If you raise from early position and the Button 3-bets, how often should you fold? The answer is that you should fold about 19% of the time, depending on the rake structure, your opponent and the stack depth. If you pay a lot of rake, for example at the online low stakes, you should fold about 10% more, so closer to 30%. If you are paying little rake or even no rake, for example in a time-based rake structure in a live game, you only have to fold

about 9% of your hands against a 3-bet. Your fold to 3-bet frequency heavily depends on your position and your opponent’s position. If you are open-raising from the Cutoff and your opponent is on the Button, you should fold about 31% of the time. Remember the Button has a reason to just call with a lot of his hands and leverage his positional advantage. So his 3-betting range should be tight and your Cutoff opening range is looser than your earlier position ranges. On the other hand, if you are open raising from the Button and you face a 3-bet from the Small Blind you should only fold about 17% of the time since you are in position and facing a rather wide 3-betting range. The hands you are folding are the ones that will do the worst postflop. Again, you are going into a low SPR scenario where the Small Blind is likely to c-bet the flop with a strong range. You therefore want hands that can face this decision profitably. Keep in mind the general concept regarding rake. If the rake in your game is relatively high, you should start to fold about 10% more against 3-bets. If the rake in your game is relatively low, you should fold about 10% less against 3-bets.

Key Concept One: Position In any poker game, position has a major impact on your EV. Most players underestimate how great the influence of position is in Pot Limit Omaha. Playing in position you can realize much more of your equity than out of position because you will be able to generate more value with your strong hands, decide whether to go to showdown and get more postflop bluffing opportunities. Consequently, the minimum amount of equity required to call against a 3-bet profitably is much less when you have position. This means that out of position you will have to fold more often to 3-bets than in position.

Key Concept Two: How to Play Aces Versus a 3-bet If you are facing a 3-bet when holding Aces at 100bb, you want to 4-bet 100% of the time. The main reason to 4-bet is because the EV is much higher than calling. There is much more value in getting your opponent to put in a lot of money into the pot while you are a favorite than trapping preflop. Additionally, Aces hands have an easier time realizing their equity when the

SPR gets lower, because this allows you to shove profitably on most flops and not have to play multiple streets without knowing whether your overpair is good or not. As you become deeper, especially over the 150bb mark, you want to start flatting more Aces versus 3-bets because combinations without much playability can be very tricky to play in medium to high SPR situations. If you choose to add some Aces to your calling range, start with the ones with the least playability because those will be harder to play in 3-bet pots, and you would rather avoid making a big mistake and keep the pot size under control.

Key Concept Three: Single-Suited Versus DoubleSuited Double-suited hands are called far more often than single-suited hands against a 3-bet. 3-bet pots play at low SPRs, which means that smoothness is the key factor when you are deciding whether to call a 3-bet or not because it will help you to realize your equity in a big pot. If you don’t have the correct hand selection, you will often find yourself having to fold on the flop because you don’t have enough equity to justify continuing. Double-suited hands have more equity and realizability against an A-A-x-x heavy range. You want to avoid flopping top pair without any backup because this hand class has low equity against Aces. Double-suited hands can flop more combo draws as well as pair with backdoor flush draws, which brings your equity closer to a 50% equity matchup against your opponent’s Aces heavy 3-bet range. This doesn’t mean you should fold all your single-suited or rainbow hands when you face a 3-bet. You should often still call with these hands, especially when you are in position. When you are out of position and you are facing a tighter 3-bet range while having a positional disadvantage, you want to fold a lot of those non-double-suited combinations.

Key Concept Four: Playing Pairs Versus a 3-bet Pairs need to be very well connected or double-suited to call a 3-bet out of position. Think back to the material about the equity distribution profile. When you are holding a pair, your hand will likely flop very “rough” and you will only flop substantial equity a small amount of the time. An example is K♣-K♠-10♠-2♥.

This hand has a hard time finding any boards where it wants to check-raise all-in or continue against a c-bet. In most cases, you will flop a naked overpair without much backup against a range that contains a lot of Aces against which you are completely dominated when you don’t have any additional backup. Examples of other hands that you want to fold against a 3-bet because they flop too rough are: ♦ K♣-K♠-Q♦-4♠ ♦ K♦-10♣-10♥-6♦ Examples of hands that you can call against a 3-bet out of position because they flop smooth and therefore have an easier time realizing equity: ♦ K♠-K♥-Q♥-4♠ ♦ 7♥-6♥-6♠-5♦

Key Concept Five: Ace-high Suits Ace-high single-suited hands are being called more often than trip-suited hands or non-Ace-high suits. There is a considerable difference between holding a single-suited hands to the Ace, holding a trip-suited hand to the Ace, or holding a non-Ace-high suited hand. Examples of hands you should fold against a 3-bet: A♥-J♦-10♦-3♠ This hand doesn’t have an Ace-high suit, so it has less equity. A♥-K♥-Q♥-4♠ This hand has a very rough equity distribution profile and it will be hard to outdraw your opponent’s 3-betting range. Examples of hands that you should call against a 3-bet: A♥-J♥-10♠-3♣ This hand has some connectivity and a nut-suit. A♦-K♦-Q♥-4♣

Single-suited to the Ace means that this hand has a better chance at outdrawing your opponent’s 3-betting range.

Key Concept Six: Double-suited Rundowns Double-suited rundowns and double-suited big pairs backed up by an Ace can be used to 4-bet. Many players choose the wrong hands to 4-bet. You shouldn’t only include A-A-x-x in your 4-betting range. If your opponent knows that you only 4-bet with Aces he will have quite an easy time playing against you both preflop and postflop. Other hands that you can include in your 4-betting range are all doing very well versus a 5-bet (connected and double-suited) or they are blocking Aces. Examples of hands which are fit to include in your 4-betting range that are not Aces: A♦-J♦-J♥-10♥ This hand is blocking Aces, is double-suited and well connected. The equity of this hand should be very high against almost any range. A♣-K♣-K♦-3♦ This hand is very strong in terms of raw equity. It’s also double-suited, and it also blocks Aces. Q♠-J♠-10♦-8♦ This hand is double-suited, very well connected and can call 5-bets.

Main Takeaways ♦ Aces should usually be 4-bet, but some combinations that lack realizability become better as calls when you are over 150bb deep. ♦ Double-suited hands are calling 3-bets far more frequently than singlesuited hands. ♦ Pairs need additional factors to justify calling 3-bets, especially OOP. ♦ Ace-high single-suited hands are called more often than triple suited hands or non-Ace-high suits. ♦ Double-suited rundowns and double-suited big pairs backed up by an Ace can be used to 4-bet.

Facing a 3-bet at 200bb If you are deeper than 100bb, your overall fold frequency also decreases. At 200bb, you are continuing more versus a 3-bet both in position and out of position. The main reason is that there is less pot-sized betting and committing to the pot by the 3-bettor on the flop in 3-bet pots at 200bb. Let’s take a brief look at how this affects strategy in both scenarios.

OOP Deep as the Preflop Caller The most important factor in this scenario are the stack sizes and the fact you have more postflop playability. Given the higher SPR you are able to checkcall a bet and still have some implied odds compared to scenarios at 100bbs starting stack sizes. At 100bb the 3-bettor will often bet pot and thus commit on the flop in situations where you have a very hard time continuing with single pair hands against a dominating Aces-heavy range. This problem doesn’t occur at 200bb as, being deeper, the 3-bettor doesn’t have much incentive to pot bet the flop as they cannot pot and stack off that profitably. The equity threshold the 3bettor will have for stacking off this deep is much higher. Therefore, the 3bettor, while playing in position, will prefer to execute a multiple street game-plan to leverage stack size and positional advantage as much as possible. In addition to this, at 200bb the in position 3-bettor will have a wider 3betting range in comparison to scenarios at 100bb. This means his flop range is slightly weaker. Finally, at 200bb the RFI ranges are slightly tighter and stronger, except for the Button. Altogether this means the in position player will c-bet less often or with a smaller size. This benefits the OOP 3-bet caller and allows them to play more hands profitably preflop, compared to at 100bbs.

IP Deep as the Preflop Caller Playing in position at 200 bbs (such as when you raise from the Button and the Small Blind 3-bets) your positional advantage becomes so much greater compared to scenarios at 100bb that you have a lot of incentive to call with most of your range when facing a 3-bet.

By calling you can make it very tough for your opponent. They end up in a very large pot where they cannot execute the same strategy as they can at 100bb because the SPR is much higher and they will be out of position on multiple streets. Again, this means the IP player will be able to leverage their positional advantage and ultimately increase the EV for their hands. Remember, as the IP caller versus a 3-bet, you will prefer calling over 4-betting with a lot of strong hands and have a very tight 4-betting range.

Limping Should You Open Limp in PLO? Limping is the act of only calling the size of the Big Blind (or straddle) preflop. When you are UTG or everyone folds to you, you have the option to fold, call (limp) or raise. As we’ve discussed before, you should almost always fold or raise and almost never open limp. In PLO, the rake tends to be very high, so you benefit greatly from taking down the pot preflop without paying any rake. In most cash games, there is a “no flop, no drop” structure. This means that if you don’t see a flop, you don’t pay any rake. In such games, limping rarely has a place in your baseline strategy. If you limp, you don’t have any fold equity preflop, so you always want to raise. Remember from the chapter about raise-sizing that stealing the blinds gives you a win rate of 150bb/100, which would be fantastic. Your strategy should be aggressive preflop play in order to build big pots. So, make sure to charge your opponents for entering the pot and competing with you for the blinds. If you use an open-limping strategy, you won’t be able to extract as many chips from your opponents when you hold a strong hand and want to get paid. If you limp a weak hand, you are just getting yourself into trouble by allowing hands with better equity to gain EV from you. There are a couple of exceptions to the “no open-limping” rule. If you are playing a different format than “no flop, no drop” games, such as a tournament or time-raked cash game, limping can be a viable strategy. If, in these games, you are shortstacked or facing short stacks, then limping can bring strategic advantages, such as playing higher SPR scenarios and not having to raise-fold a considerable percentage of your hands preflop. Whether you are limping from an early or late position, you still want to limp strong playable hands. That way you can “force” the blinds to play weaker hands against you, where you often have a range and positional advantage. After reading this book you should also have a baseline strategy for developing a skill advantage.

Exploiting Limpers The decisions you want to make when you are facing limpers depend upon many different variables such as position, stack sizes, reads, the type of players behind you, etc. Let’s start off with a simple fact. Most players who are limping in standard raked cash games are recreational players. They usually play very wide preflop ranges and they also often make many mistakes postflop. Being able to isolate these weak players can give your win rate a massive boost. You don’t want to overdo it, because if you do, you become the weak player yourself and can be exploited by other watchful players or someone who wakes up with a big hand. You could easily get into big trouble by getting into a multiway pot without having the hand that is suited for this scenario. The open limper might also exploit your wide range by reraising you more often, which will allow him to lower his positional disadvantage and dominate your hand postflop. In general, you should isolate limpers using a range that is tighter than your RFI range. For example, if it’s folded to you on the Button, you should open-raise for pot about 50% of the time. If the Cutoff decides to limp, you should raise tighter than that, because players who limp are not limping to fold against a single raise, they are limping to call. As an easy-to-remember general rule is that you can isolate players using the range from one earlier RFI position, per limper in the pot. For example, if the Cutoff limps and you are on the Button, isolate the player with your Cutoff RFI range. If both the MP and Cutoff players limp, then you should isolate with the RFI range from two positions earlier, e.g. the MP RFI range. When there is a limper in front of you, there is little to no preflop fold equity. You will be almost guaranteed to see a flop and pay rake. You also won’t be able to win the blinds by yourself any longer and you will have to split the dead blind money with at least one other player. If you raise first in and successfully steal the blinds, your win rate will be 150bb/100. If there is a limper who doesn’t fold preflop, you can no longer achieve this win rate because you will have to split the blinds with both the limper and the casino or poker site. This massively decreases your win rate, so you want to tighten your range in order to have a more significant equity advantage versus the limper and avoid being exploited by other players.

Over-limping

Over-limping is when you face a limper and decide to also come along. After all, it’s only a small bet to call and you are getting better odds, right? While true, remember to think about where you are heading postflop and that will be a multiway pot. Focus more on how your hand will play for all the future bets, not the immediate and smallest one preflop. If you focus on the immediate pot odds and equity, you are basing your decision on the least important aspect of the hand and its very easy for your “small mistake” to compound into a larger one postflop. Therefore, you can argue that these small mistakes should really be considered big ones. I can’t stress this enough. Avoid playing multiway pots with hands that are not suited for multiway pots. If you can avoid this common small stakes PLO mistake, you are already way ahead of the competition. Don’t think that your superior skill can overcome a structural part of the game. You will get dominated, be forced to fold, or lose at showdown too often to play weak hands profitably in multiway pots. Remember, in position, you want to build big pots with your strong range versus your opponents’ weak range. Going to the flop in position, heads-up against a weak player with a weak range is still an excellent result. Going to the flop against multiple players, with a weak hand is not. You can consider limping along when you’re out of position, such as in the Small Blind. Even in this case, however, you should only consider overlimping with decently strong hands. In this scenario, even when you raise, you will be out of position without much preflop fold equity. A strong hand can gain a lot by 3-betting OOP and lowering the SPR significantly but when just raising against limpers you will still be heading into a high SPR scenario OOP. Most hands will not gain enough equity advantage to play profitably compared to just calling. As a rule of thumb, when out of position facing a limper, isolate them only with your UTG RFI range. Rules of Thumb for Isolating Limpers ♦ Raise the previous position’s RFI versus one limper. ♦ Add one further position for each added limper. This is the default strategy you want to use when you are facing a limper on whom you don’t have any specific reads. Reasons to raise wider are if you are deeper or if your opponent has a very wide range and is weak postflop.

On the other hand, raise tighter if the players behind you are very aggressive or the limper is tight. To really crush your games, you need to understand the default strategy, and then you should adjust that basic strategy based on the table conditions or reads you have.

Main Takeaways ♦ You should only open limp in games with very specific rake structures. ♦ Players who limp often play very poorly both preflop and postflop. You want to isolate them in order to play a pot with a weak player. Don’t isolate too wide because doing so opens you up to being easily exploited. ♦ When you are facing a limp in position, don’t over-limp. Play either raise or fold. ♦ Out of position, over-limping can be an option. You want to over-limp about 30% of your hands from the Small Blind, with specific attention to your range’s nuttiness. ♦ Isolate with UTG RFI range. ♦ In general, when considering whether to isolate a player, you can do so with the RFI range from one earlier position per each limper in the pot. ♦ From the Small Blind, over-limp around 30%. ♦ Use this as your baseline strategy and adjust it based on the reads and information that you have on your opponents.

Defending the Big Blind Versus One Opponent Fundamentals When you are in the Big Blind and facing a single open-raise, you already know you’re going to play a heads-up pot while out of position. If you face a pot-sized open-raise from a single opponent, you are getting a price of 2-to-1. This means you need 33% equity to profitably call if you didn’t have to make decisions on future streets. But because you do have to play future streets, you also need to take the equity realization factor into account. This principle is the same as in NLHE, where you might defend your Big Blind with 8♥-4♥, but you would fold Q♠-2♥. The equity of these hands is similar, but the realization of this equity is very different. This is due to the better suitedness and connectivity of 8♥-4♥. The higher equity realizability of this hand allows you to call more flops, turns, and rivers because you can hit flush and straight draws. With Q♠-2♥, that’s much more unlikely. In PLO, a similar principle applies. Hands that are double-suited and connected tend to realize a lot of their preflop equity because they connect with more boards than hands with fewer such advantages. This means that 7♥-6♠-5♥-4♠ is a much better defend than J♣-J♦-7♠-2♥ against a Button open-raise. Even though 7♥-6♠-5♥-4♠ has 44% equity versus a Button range and J♣-J♦-7♠-2♥ has 46% equity, the double-suited rundown will connect with more flops and can continue past the flop more often. Not only does this mean you can get to showdown more but you are also able to turn your hand into a bluff if necessary. With a weak single pair of Jacks, you don’t reach the point of either option. Some players hold the belief that in PLO, it is profitable to defend their Big Blind with most of their hands preflop. That belief is based on the considerable equity that hands have preflop and how close equities of different starting hands run in PLO. What these players overlook is that equity always must be combined with equity realization. Otherwise, you are working with an incomplete model since we are not playing all-in before the flop. You must start thinking more about which hands realize a lot of their

equity and what types of hands don’t and that’s where a number of components come into play. A double-suited hand realizes more equity than a single-suited hand. A single-suited hand realizes more equity than a tripsuited hand and a disconnected hand realizes less equity than a connected hand. However, that is not all. Weak disconnected hands not only have less equity, they also realize less of their equity. 10♠-10♥-6♥-3♣ has less raw equity than 10♠-10♥-9♥-8♣ and, on top of that, 10♠-10♥-6♥-3♣ realizes less of its equity because it has fewer components that work together. This effectively means that the EV of the hand drops to a level where it’s not profitable to call preflop. Just having 33% equity isn’t enough to justify a call. 10♠-10♥-9♥-8♣ has more equity and realizes more of it due to the higher connectivity, making it an easy defend from the Big Blind. Players who hold this costly preflop misconception also don’t pay enough attention to the positional disadvantage. The Big Blind is always out of position except when playing versus the Small Blind. As mentioned before, being OOP makes it harder to realize the full equity of your hand since you have less control over the action. Therefore, the Big Blind should fold a lot of marginal hands. When deciding whether to defend the Big Blind against a single opponent, consider both: ♦ The equity of your hand against your opponent’s raising range. ♦ The realizability of your hand. Your hand’s equity is heavily influenced by how wide your opponents’ range is. If your opponent opens from an early position, you need to tighten up your preflop range considerably. If they play a 50% range from the Button, you can defend around 50% to 60%, as you are getting a decent price from the Big Blind to play versus a wide range. What’s important to keep in mind about the second bullet point above is that some hands will realize their equity better than others. This means that range composition matters more than playing frequency. The realizability factor is determined by the quality and quantity of your hand’s components. Exploitable Adjustment If your opponent is very aggressive postflop, you want to adjust and

tighten your preflop ranges. Opponents who c-bet and barrel a lot take advantage of wide and capped ranges. A natural exploit is to defend tighter preflop and have stronger hands in your range on every street, so your opponent ends up betting into a range that can more easily call down and punish this tendency. Big Blind Defense Versus One Opponent If you are in the Big Blind facing a single open-raise, you should defend with a frequency that is slightly higher than your opponent’s openraising range. For example, if EP open-raises 18% of the time, the Big Blind should defend about 25%. If the Button open-raises with about 50%, the Big Blind should defend with about 50% to 60%. This only applies to heads-up pots.

The Influence of the Rake The Big Blind is supposed to fold about 40% to 50% of hands versus a Button raise and fold about 75% against an EP raise. In high rake games, you should fold more, and in low raked games, you can fold less. The more rake you pay, the more the profit of your marginal defending hands gets eaten up by the rake, up to a point where some of the hands that you can defend in low rake situations now turn into losing hands.

Common Small Stakes Mistakes A mistake that is seen frequently at small stakes is when players defend too many weak single-component hands. Examples of such hands are: disconnected hands with a suited Ace, unsupported medium-high pairs, rainbow Broadway hands, and double-suited disconnected trash. For example, holding a suited Ace does not mean that you can always justify a call preflop against a single open-raiser. This single element becomes more important when playing a multiway pot because of the nuttiness factor and the increased chances of an opponent having a dominated flush draw. But in heads-up situations realizability is more important than nuttiness. The suited Ace adds a lot of nuttiness to a hand but doesn’t add that much realizability. You need additional components, such as connectivity, high cards, or a pair. The same thing holds for disconnected medium-high pairs, rainbow

Broadway hands and double-suited trash. Without backup, these hands don’t have enough realizability in order to profitably call against an open-raise.

3-betting from the Big Blind If you recall, in PLO there are two main reasons to 3-bet: ♦ You have a high equity hand. ♦ You have a hand with smooth equity distribution that plays better in a heads-up pot than in a multiway pot. When you are in the Big Blind, there are no players behind you to push out so the second reason is not relevant. That means your 3-betting range consists almost exclusively of high equity hands. This is especially true as you will be out of position postflop. When defending your hand OOP, you want to 3-bet a stronger range that allows you to apply a lot of pressure on many different flops and turns. You can only accomplish this goal by sticking to multicomponent hands, such as double-suited high cards. Exploitative Tip When a player at your table is open-raising extremely wide, the way to adjust your strategy is to widen your 3-betting range. Don’t start calling wider because a lot of these marginal hands have trouble realizing equity. Widening your calling range is not likely to lead to winning pots. It is much more profitable to punish someone who is open-raising weak hands by widening your 3-betting range.

Examples To clarify these Big Blind defense fundamentals, let’s go through some examples. Hand Example 5 You are in the Big Blind, holding 6♦-5♥-3♦-2♥, facing a Button open-raise (Diagram 13). This hand has many different components. However, the quality of the components is very poor.

Diagram 13 The rank of the cards is very low, which means that this combination will flop hands that are easily dominated, such as bottom two pair, marginal flush draws, or the bottom end of a straight draw. Therefore, this hand should be folded. Hand Example 6 Now assume you are holding A♦-10♣-9♠-7♠ (Diagram 14).

Diagram 14 Many players would fold this hand because the Ace isn’t suited. As discussed before, the importance of holding a suited Ace isn’t crucial in heads-up situations; it’s more about the realizability of a hand. This hand has decent connectivity; it holds precisely one suit and some medium and highrank cards. For those reasons, you should call with this hand. If you are facing more than one opponent, folding would be best. Hand Example 7 Let’s say that now you are holding A♦-A♣-8♥-4♠ (Diagram 15). This hand has about 62% equity against a Button open raising range, while a hand such as K♥-Q♠-10♥-10♠ has 59% equity. However, with K♥-Q♠-10♥10♠ you should always be 3-betting, whereas with A♦-A♣-8♥-4♠ you can go for a call. The fact that a lower equity hand is 3-betting more often shows how significant the impact of equity realization for the EV of a starting hand is. The realizability of K♥-Q♠-10♥-10♠ is higher as it is a multi-component hand. It can flop a set, strong two pairs, flush draws, and straight draws. Hands with weak Aces have trouble realizing their equity because they are a one-component hand. You are hoping to flop a decent overpair or top set, but there are not that many boards on which you want to get a lot of chips in when you are holding this hand.

Diagram 15

Main Takeaways ♦ When you are in the Big Blind and facing a single open-raise, there two primary things you need to consider: ♦ Your hand’s equity. What is the RFI range of your opponent? Is your hand directly dominated by your opponent’s range? ♦ Your hand’s realizability. Is your hand a one-component or multiplecomponent hand? How aggressive is your opponent postflop? ♦ If you have a hand with many components it becomes easier to realize your equity. The more rake you pay, the tighter your calling range from the Big Blind should be. ♦ Your opponent’s position and range have a very strong correlation to the EV of defending your Big Blind. ♦ You shouldn’t blindly call with any suited Ace just because you are getting a reasonable price. You need additional backup. ♦ The main factor to consider when you are thinking about 3-betting from the Big Blind is if it has a strong equity advantage as well as smooth postflop equity distribution. You want to 3-bet hands that will dominate and with high realizability.

Defending the Big Blind Versus Multiple Players A scenario that is especially common at the low stakes and in live games is that you will very often face an open-raise and multiple callers. Therefore, you must understand how to adjust your Big Blind ranges when facing multiple players. The Big Blind is supposed to fold much more when facing two players compared to just one. A common mistake that PLO players make is to call way too wide when facing multiple players in the Big Blind because the odds are excellent. However, when you are playing multiway pots, you want your hands to be more nutted in order to dominate your opponents. If you start to widen your range, you will become the dominated player yourself, and this is a slippery slope to burning a lot of chips. Playing against multiple opponents requires you to pay more attention to the quality of your starting hand, as it needs to hold up against more opponents. When you are in the Big Blind and you are facing an EP openraise, you should play about 50% of your hands. However, versus an EP raise and a Button call, you should only play about half that. Failing to make this adjustment will cost you tons of money and you will be gifting the other two players a lot of EV. If you are facing more than two players, your ranges should become even tighter. The hands you decide to play need to be very nutted. This can be a frustrating experience in small stakes games because it requires you to be patient when everyone else at the table isn’t. But remember that most of your profit comes from situations where you do have a big hand, raise or re-raise preflop and benefit from your opponents’ loose preflop ranges by dominating and stacking them postflop. There is less variance in heads-up pots because you can win pots more often but you should always focus on what you can control. Ensure you are playing the correct range composition for the scenario you are about to head into. So, which hands are best for squeezing from the Big Blind?

Squeezing from the Big Blind

Squeezing is when you face a raiser and a caller and you decide to 3-bet. You are “squeezing” the caller or callers. Overall, when the Big Blind is facing an open-raise from the Cutoff and a cold call from the Button, the Big Blind is supposed to fold 65%, call 27% and 3-bet (squeeze) about 8%. When deciding whether to squeeze, consider the following points: ♦ How many capped ranges are in play? ♦ Squeezing components. Specifically is my hand: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Double-suited? Nutted? Well-connected? Blocking Aces?

♦ Can my hand call a 4-bet? The more capped ranges that are in play, the more value you can get from your good hands. As more players enter the pot, the SPR will be lower postflop. This allows you to realize more of your equity postflop in a squeezed pot. This means there is a big difference between facing one raiser and one caller rather than one raiser and three callers. In small stakes games, this is especially important.

Squeezing Components It isn’t necessary for your hand to feature all four components to justify a squeeze. However, the more components you have, the more likely it is that you are holding a hand that should be squeezed. Being double-suited, connected and nutted is a powerful combo. It means that you will often hit strong dominating hands postflop that can, in low SPR scenarios, happily stack off on many different flops against multiple opponents. This is a great scenario to be in versus capped, wide calling ranges, especially in loose passive games where hands with low realizability are being played. Another factor that you might want to consider is the ability of a hand to call 4-bets. This is not as important as the other factors but worth considering. If you can’t call a 4-bet, squeezing is less attractive because when you fold against a 4-bet, you give up on a big pot without having the chance to realize

your equity. Blocking Aces by having an Ace in your hand is good because you will get 4-bet less often. If you do get 4-bet, its important to know which A-x-x-x hands can call and which should be folded. Let’s look at some examples. Hand Example 8 You are in the Big Blind with A♠-K♠-K♣-2♠ and you are facing an openraise from MP and calls from the Cutoff and Button (Diagram 16).

Diagram 16 In general, this hand should be squeezed. It is blocking Aces and has a lot of nuttiness with a potential set of Kings, the nut flush draw and the A-K component. This hand can dominate lower pairs and lower flush draws in low SPR situations which means that you will often get all the money in good. This hand also realizes its equity better in a low SPR situation, where it doesn’t necessarily have to hit a set to justify stacking off. However, when this hand is facing a 4-bet, you should fold because it is doing extremely badly against 4-betting ranges heavy in Aces. This example illustrates that some hands can be very profitable squeezes, but they still have to fold against 4-bets.

Hand Example 9 You are in the Big Blind with A♣-K♥-7♥-5♣ and you are facing an openraise from MP and calls from the Cutoff and Button (Diagram 17).

Diagram 17 This hand is double-suited with Ace-high and King-high suits, so it has nutted components. Holding the Ace means that you are blocking Aces which makes it less likely you will get 4-bet. The connectivity isn’t the best but the Ace and the King are connected, as are the seven and five. Remember that you don’t need to rate your hand highly on all four parameters outlined previously. However, by using the four parameters, it becomes clear that this hand could be squeezed in this specific scenario. Nevertheless, if you were facing an early position raise, you would rather just call. Again, this hand should fold versus a 4-bet.

Main Takeaways ♦ The Big Blind is supposed to fold much more when facing two players compared to just one. ♦ If you are facing more than two players, your ranges should become even tighter and you should calibrate your range towards even more nuttiness.

♦ The Big Blind wants to keep a tight calling range to avoid being dominated postflop while out of position. ♦ When it comes to squeezing, ask yourself: ♦ How many capped ranges are in play? ♦ Squeezing components. Specifically is my hand: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Double-suited? Nutted? Well-connected? Blocking Aces?

♦ Can my hand call a 4-bet?

04

Preflop Categories So far in this book we have discussed the most important preflop concepts. In the following material, we will go into more detail about how to play preflop by separating all the possible starting hands into nine different categories. These nine categories are: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9)

Aces Broadway pairs Three Broadways with one dangler Double-paired Rundowns Two Broadway with two medium-low connectors Three card rundowns and a Broadway card Mid-low pairs Ragged hands

The next nine sections will contain a lot of detailed information as well as a lot of numbers, and you might feel overwhelmed because of this. The way to approach this part of the book is not to learn all numbers by heart; a much more efficient method is to understand the underlying concepts and patterns. The purpose of the nine categories is to help you build an understanding of what factors drive specific actions and how those factors differ depending on the type of hand that you are holding. Let’s start with the first and easiest category.

Category One: Aces Introduction Aces are the most profitable preflop category in PLO. A lot of players who transition from NLHE to PLO believe that Aces are not nearly as strong in PLO when compared to NLHE because equities run closer. Although this is true, and Aces don’t have as big of an advantage in PLO, they will still be by far your most profitable hand. Hands with Aces can vary greatly in terms of their quality. This category includes all hands with exactly two Aces. It does not include two pair hands (e.g. A-A-K-K), or hands that include three or even all four Aces. In total, this category has the highest raw equity advantage of any of the nine categories. In fact, the best Aces belong in the top 1% of hands in PLO. These are often double-suited, connected or even both (e.g. A♠-A♦-J♠-10♦). The average rank of Aces is 2.03%, which means that “average Aces” belong in the top 2.03% of hands. Even A♣-A♦-8♥-2♠, one of the worst hands that includes exactly two Aces, still ranks in the top 5% of hands.

Raise First-in Strategy This category has a very simple RFI strategy. You want to open 100% of the time when you are holding two Aces in your starting hand. No matter what position you are in.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) When you are holding Aces, you should never fold when facing a single open-raise preflop. When you are in middle position and facing an early position open-raise, you almost always want to 3-bet. Calculations show that you should 3-bet 93% of the time to be precise. There are a few reasons why you should almost always 3-bet with Aces. First of all, Aces usually have a very strong equity edge, so you benefit from extracting as much value as possible. Second, by 3-betting you are reopening the action, which allows someone to come over the top with a 4bet, allowing you to build a huge pot with an equity advantage. Third, by 3-

betting you create fold equity. If your opponent folds their hand against your 3-bet, you pick up the blinds and the initial open-raise uncontested, which results in a huge win for that situation. Finally, Aces play much better in low SPR situations compared to high ones. Aces don’t score very well when it comes to realizability of equity because most Aces don’t flop very smooth. But at a low SPR you can realize more equity since you will have to play fewer streets and therefore make fewer postflop decisions. A final point to make is that when you are in middle position, it is generally not very profitable to cold call because postflop you will often be sandwiched between the PFR and the Button or Cutoff who will frequently cold call after you have cold called. Although you should almost always 3-bet when you are holding Aces, there are four situations where it can be more profitable to call. 1) When you have weak Aces and are either: ♦ In position with little chance that you can get 4-bet light. ♦ Out of position and the flop SPR after 3-betting would still be higher than 3. In this scenario you don’t want to build a big pot because you will often be put in tough spots postflop. You will end up folding a lot and under-realizing your equity. 2) If players at your table are very loose, and 3-bets get cold-called frequently, it might be better to just flat marginal Aces because you can’t avoid a multiway pot. 3) If the players at your table play very aggressively or if you have a lot of short-stacked players behind, it might be worth it to trap with Aces in order to be able to come over the top of a squeeze. The Aces that you want to use to call all have some combination of: ♦ Three cards of the same suit (trip-suited) ♦ A very low suit without any additional connectivity ♦ No cards of the same suit (rainbow). Note that not all Aces with bad suits and connectivity just call, only the

worst of the worst ones do. As the original open-raiser gets closer to the Button and widens his range, you should be 3-betting closer to 100% of your Aces. Examples of hands that you should call with preflop are: A♥-A♠-9♠-4♠. This hand has no additional high cards or connectivity and blocks its ability to make flushes by holding three spades. Although most Aces benefit from 3-betting to create a bigger pot at a lower SPR, this hand should just be called. This hand is holding no additional backup, which means that there are too few good flops for this hand to justify inflating the pot by 3-betting. A♣-A♦-5♥-3♠. This hand has no high cards and no way to make a flush. Again, the equity realizability of this hand is very bad and, for that reason, this hand should not be used to inflate the pot. You should call. Exploitative Tip Take the tendencies of the original raiser and the players behind you into account. If the initial open-raiser doesn’t fold to 3-bets, you should be 3betting 100% of all A-A-x-x combinations. The initial open-raiser is supposed to fold a lot of their Broadway pairs, but if they don’t, you can make a lot of money with all your Aces because you will very often dominate their Kings and Queens hands. If the players behind you play very loose, you will have to adjust your strategy. Aces with very weak backup don’t want to get into a multiway 3-bet pot. In this case, it could make sense to widen your calling range and include some more Aces that don’t have many additional components. On the other hand, if there is a maniac on the left of you who is 3-betting every hand you might also want to consider cold-calling preflop in order to give the maniac the option to squeeze and get the money in light.

Big Blind Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP

About 20% of all Aces should be called in the Big Blind versus an EP openraise. The types of Aces that want to call instead of 3-betting are the ones with the worst playability and the lowest equity advantage. When you are 3-betting OOP, you want to stack off postflop as often as possible and fold as little as possible because you don’t want to give up easily in big pots. Aces without much playability are better off played by keeping the pot small because they don’t hit a lot of flops and therefore must often give up. When you are in the Big Blind, you already know how many players you will face postflop as there are no players behind you. So, 3-betting to get other players out of the pot is no longer a valid reason. An example of a hand that would rather call against an early position open-raise is A♥-A♣-10♠-2♠. This hand doesn’t have a great suit, and it has very little connectivity, which makes calling the most profitable option. BB Versus Button The Button range is much wider than the Early Position open raising range. Therefore, the equity advantage with Aces becomes more significant and the Big Blind wants to 3-bet more Aces versus a Button open-raise compared to an Early Position open-raise. Against a Button raise, the Big Blind is only supposed to call with the 5% absolute worst rainbow Aces that don’t have good connectivity or that do have connectivity, but with very low cards. Two examples of Aces that should call from the Big Blind against a Button openraise are A♣-A♠-K♦-2♥ and A♠-A♦-3♥-2♣. BB Versus Two Opponents (BB Versus Button and MP) The GTO baseline is to 3-bet all Aces combinations against one raiser and one caller. When multiple players have already entered the pot, the Big Blind can 3-bet to a bigger sizing meaning that the SPR will be lower compared to heads-up pots. A lower SPR implies that it is easier for the Big Blind to play postflop. For Aces without many additional components, playing at a low SPR is exceptionally advantageous. There is a further reason why the Big Blind 3-bets more often versus multiple players. It is because the initial open-raiser should fold around 30% against a Big Blind squeeze in this scenario. Having a lot of fold equity makes 3-betting much more profitable. But pay attention! In most small stakes games, you have less fold equity and should be cautious about 3betting marginal hands such as naked Aces. It’s not the same to squeeze

against a solid regular at a mid-stakes game, than against a loose recreational player who won’t consider folding preflop versus a 3-bet. Take this into account whenever you are thinking about squeezing preflop. Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB): Slowplaying Aces When you are in position and facing a 3-bet, GTO suggests that you should call with between 10% and 35% of all Aces, depending on the exact situation. You should 4-bet with all remaining Aces. Most players 4-bet 100% of their Aces when they are facing a 3-bet, but you should add in some Aces into your calling range. The main advantages of flatting some Aces preflop are as follows: Firstly, you want to stack your opponents as often as possible when they are holding big Broadway pairs such as K-K and Q-Q. Aces are completely dominating these Broadway pairs but by 4-betting you give your opponents the chance to fold and get away cheaply, which leads to a loss in EV. Secondly, when you 4-bet preflop, you make quite a big investment with your hand. In 4-bet pots, you play with very shallow stacks and you want to make sure that you can stack-off as often as possible in these big pots. To avoid building massive pots and folding postflop, some of the weaker Aces find their way into the calling range. GTO assumes that players out of position are folding 30-40% of the time when they face a 4-bet after 3-betting themselves. In reality, most players fold against 4-bets with a much lower frequency. In fact, most players will probably never fold against a 4-bet after 3-betting. For this reason, it can be an excellent exploitative adjustment to call less than 30% of your Aces preflop versus a 3-bet when you are in position. If your opponents underfold against 4-bets, it means that you can get a lot of money in with Aces that are often holding a significant equity advantage. I recommend that you call with about 15% of your Aces when you are 100bb deep and facing a 3-bet when you are in position. Call with Aces that are holding two wheel cards or two cards that are very close to wheel cards, for example A♣-A♠-2♠-3♦ (wheel cards) or A♥-A♠-6♥-4♠ (close to wheel cards). Suits don’t have a significant impact in this scenario; it’s all about the rank of your side cards. You want to call with these hands for a few reasons. Firstly, Aces with wheel cards have the fewest number of flops on which you want to stack-off postflop. Therefore, building a large pot by 4-betting isn’t as preferable nor as profitable. For example, A-A-2-5 is doing poorly on

connected mid-high flops, such as 9-8-5, Q-10-6, and K-Q-8. Secondly, flatting Aces with wheel cards will allow you to stack your opponent’s overpairs while having a considerable equity advantage when the flop comes with low cards such as 9♣-5♦-3♠. At an SPR of 3.5 (3-bet pot at 100bb), your opponent is supposed to play very aggressively and often potsize c-bet with all overpairs on such low, dry boards. When this happens, you can often get all the money in with 80% equity when holding Aces with wheel cards. Remember, you seldom want to just call with Aces that also hold an additional Broadway card. One of the main reasons for slowplaying Aces is to stack your opponent when they hold a Broadway pair, so you don’t want to block these Broadway pairs when you decide to slowplay. Exploitative Tip If the player who 3-bets you never folds to 4-bets, you should go ahead and 4-bet (almost) all Aces because your opponent will call with hands that you completely dominate. If the 3-bettor is a complete maniac, you should also get the money in because you will do very well versus their all-in range. Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) When you are out of position, you should 4-bet 100% of the time. Out of position, it becomes much harder to realize your equity and, therefore, it is less profitable to slowplay Aces preflop in order to dominate and stack your opponent postflop. Just 4-bet and get the remaining money in on most flops. Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) With Aces, you are almost always benefiting from getting all the money in preflop because you will always have an equity advantage unless your opponent is holding better Aces. So, whenever you are facing a 4-bet while holding Aces, you should 5-bet to get the money in.

Category Two: Broadway Pairs Introduction This category includes all hands that are holding a Broadway pair, excluding Aces, two pair hands, and hands with three or four cards of the same rank. There are a total of 25,433 different hands in this category, which means that you get dealt one of these hands about 9.36% of the time. This category is relatively strong but also very diverse. The hand with the highest EV in this category is A♥-K♥-K♠-J♠, which ranks in the top 1% of hands. The average rank of this category is 17.18%. Players learning PLO often overvalue Broadway pairs. Although hands such as Kings and Queens are quite profitable when played correctly, they can also get you into trouble, especially if you systematically overplay them. However, in this section, we will discuss how to avoid this common pitfall.

RFI strategy Early Position From EP, only about 35% of the hands that belong in this category should be open-raised. There are some traits that all hands that want to open-raise have in common. The first is the importance of having an Ace. A hand with two Kings but without an Ace only wants to open-raise 50% of the time. If you are holding an Ace alongside your Kings, you want to open-raise 100%! This concept is very similar when it comes to Queens, Jacks, or Tens. Although you don’t want to open 100% of these pairs with an Ace, the open raising frequency drastically increases when you do hold an Ace compared to not holding an Ace. The reason why the Ace is such an important component is simple. When you are holding a high pocket pair, you hate to get 3-bet because you are so often up against, and dominated by, Aces. Holding an Ace makes it less likely that one of your opponents has Aces, and therefore decreases the chance that you will face a 3-bet preflop. Given that you can also hit a top pair with an Ace on the flop, the EV of open raising a Broadway pair is much

higher when you are holding an Ace. Although Queens are not as strong as Kings, with A-Q-Q-x, you still want to open-raise very close to 100%. When you are holding Jacks or Tens plus an Ace, you want to open slightly less frequently. To be specific, only the top 80% of all Jacks and Tens with an Ace should be raised. You want to fold the Jacks and Tens with the worst suitedness or connectivity. When you are not holding an Ace, the rank of your pair becomes much more important. Without an Ace, you want to raise close to 50% of all Kings, but only about 14% of Tens. The Tens you do want to open-raise have either high suits, great connectivity or both. An example of Tens without an Ace that you want to open-raise is 10♦10♠-9♣-8♦. This hand is exactly single-suited to the ten, and it is well connected, meaning that you can call a 3-bet with it. An example of a hand that you don’t want to open-raise with is K♥-10♥-10♠-2♠. This hand looks nice because it is double-suited but the connectivity is very marginal given the deuce is a total dangler. This hand can’t call 3-bets and it also doesn’t do that well in multiway pots due to the lack of nuttiness. You want to fold this hand preflop. Additional Notes: ♦ When you are holding a suited Ace alongside your Broadway pair, you want to open-raise very close to 100% (except for some of the worst tripsuited or monotone pocket pairs). If you open-raise from EP, the chance that you will end up playing a multiway pot is high and, with a suited Ace, your hand will do much better in multiway pots. ♦ When you are holding pocket pairs with two cards that are five or lower you almost always want to fold. With such low cards, your hand is disconnected, not very nutted, and raising from early position becomes unprofitable. Button As you get closer to the Button, you should start opening much wider. On the Button, you are supposed to open-raise about 94% of all Broadway pairs, an increase from 35% when playing EP. An example of a hand that should be folded, even from the Button, is 10♥-10♠-5♠-2♠. The equity realizability of this hand is very poor because it has very few great flops. You should just fold this hand, especially at small stakes or live games with loose opponents.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) When you sit in MP and a player opens from EP, most Broadway pairs should be folded. You want to fold the bottom 77% of Broadway pairs, call 17% and 3-bet about 6% of the time. Calling MP Versus EP The most important determinant here is the rank of your pair. With Kings you have the highest calling frequency (31%) and with tens you have the lowest calling frequency (11%). The hands you want to call with need to have strong connectivity and suitedness to justify a call. As your pair rank gets lower, the other components of the hand must improve to make calling and likely heading into a multiway pot the highest EV play. Let’s consider two hand examples. In both situations, you sit in MP, and you are facing an open-raise from EP playing 100bb. The only difference between the two examples is the hands you are holding. K♥-K♠-9♠-8♠ The value of this hand comes from having a high pair (flopping top set), the connectivity (flopping high straight draws) and the suitedness (having a King-high flush draw is much better than a nine-high flush). Holding a high pair and a high suit make this hand a good fit for a multiway pot and it should be called. 10♦-10♥-9♥-8♠ Although this hand is single-suited rather than trip-suited, the rank is lower, meaning that you are less likely to dominate your opponents in scenarios where you get a lot of money in on a board with a flush draw. Since you are “only” holding a ten-high suit, you are much more likely to be the dominated player yourself since you are facing a Broadwayheavy EP raising range. You are also less likely to flop overpairs or top sets. The connectivity of this hand is better than the previous hand, but this doesn’t add enough EV to this hand to justify a call. Nuttiness is the essential factor in this situation because it is very likely that this hand will end up in a multiway pot. For those reasons, you should fold this hand versus an EP open-raise, even though you would open it yourself from any position. 3-Betting MP Versus EP

When it comes to 3-betting, the rank of the pair is much less important when compared to calling. When you call preflop from middle position, you can expect to play multiway pots. High pairs do better in multiway pots because they are more nutted, so you are more likely to win big pots postflop with high pairs because you can dominate your opponents. In 3-bet pots, “smoothness” is more important because you want to be able to get the money in on as many flops as possible when you are in a big 3-bet pot. The optimal 3-bet frequency when in MP versus EP with Broadway pairs is close to 6%. If you paid attention in the RFI section of this category, you won’t be surprised by the main 3-bet requirement of this category: without an Ace, you are never 3-betting MP versus EP with a Broadway pair. In general, the Ace is a crucial card when it comes to 3-betting in PLO because it drastically reduces the chance that your opponent is holding Aces and you get 4-bet. Most 4-betting ranges are very focused on Aces, so you are usually in a nasty spot whenever you get 4-bet while holding a Broadway pair. To avoid this terrible outcome as much as possible, you should only 3bet Broadway pairs from this position if you are holding an Ace alongside with your pair. Another important aspect is suitedness. Rainbow hands should never be 3bet by the middle position player. Double-suited Broadway pair combinations with an Ace should almost always be 3-bet. Again, Broadway pairs without an Ace should never be 3-bet in this situation, even when double-suited. When it comes to 3-betting single-suited Broadway pairs, focus on hands that have a significant equity advantage or extremely good realizability. Again, having an Ace is a must when it comes to 3-betting in this scenario. An example of a hand that has a big equity advantage is A♣-K♦-K♠-8♠. This hand is also blocking Aces, has a high Broadway pair, and a King-high suit. However, the difference between 3-betting and calling is slim for the single-suited hands in this category. Let’s compare A♠-K♣-K♦-2♠ to A♣-K♦K♠-8♣: A♠-K♣-K♦-2♠ also has a big equity advantage versus the early position open raising range with the A-K-K combination and high suit. The difference is A♠-K♣-K♦-2♠ is a great hand for multiway situations as it can make wheel straights. The suited Ace alongside the Kings make this hand very nutted. Calling becomes more profitable than 3-betting. Remember we’re always comparing strategic options in poker and choosing the one with the highest EV. Whoever is right more often will win.

Another example of a hand that should 3-bet is A♥-J♥-J♠-9♠, even though the Jack-high pair is a weak Broadway pair, having an Ace means you are less likely to get 4-bet. The connectivity is quite good, and the doublesuitedness to the Ace and the Jack adds even more value to this hand. Importantly, this combination flops smoothly as there are a lot of favorable flops for this hand. Therefore 3-betting is the way to go. As either you or the open-raiser starts to get closer to the Button, you can widen up your Broadway pair value range, and you can begin to 3-bet some of the best double-suited and connected hands that don’t hold an Ace. The way you want to widen your range is by focusing on suitedness and connectivity, and not the rank of the pair.

Big Blind Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP The Big Blind can call (50%), and 3-bet (8%) with this category against an EP open-raise. Keep in mind that the lower the pair, the higher the folding frequency. Kings only fold about 3% while tens fold about 50%. The EP open-raising range includes a lot of high Broadway pairs, which means many hands that include two Jacks or tens that the Big Blind can be holding are easily dominated. When it comes to 3-betting, you still often need an Ace, or for your hand to score very well on realizability. An example of a hand that should 3-bet against an early position open-raise without an Ace is J♥-10♥-10♠-9♠. This hand flops very smooth, which makes this combination a good fit for playing 3-bet pots. In case your opponent 4-bets you preflop, this hand can still call. BB Versus Button The Button raising range is much wider and much more diverse compared to the EP open-raising range. The Big Blind can profitably play 100% of hands from this category. Being dominated while holding a Broadway pair is no longer a big worry because the Button is not as focused on high cards as the EP player is. The Button also opens a lot of low pairs, and all the Broadway pairs are doing very well against this part of the Button’s open-raising range. Because of the ability to dominate the Button’s range, the Big Blind should 3-bet with about 25% of all Broadway pairs. Again, its usually the higher pairs that should 3-bet, specifically 47% of all Kings compared to 11% of all

tens. Besides the rank of the pair, the standard 3-betting requirements still apply, e.g. blocking Aces, having good connectivity and good suitedness are all critical factors when you are considering whether to 3-bet or call. The difference is that when you are holding tens, you need stronger representation in these components compared to when you are holding Kings. Two examples are: K♥-K♠-5♥-3♠ This hand should be 3-bet BB versus Button because it has a significant equity advantage against the Button open raising range, and good suitedness with two King-high suits. The connectivity of this hand is marginal, but overall the realizability that this hand offers in a 3-bet pot is high. Because of the high pair and flush draw, you can dominate your opponent’s pair plus draw and stack them. 10♠-10♥-6♥-5♠ This hand has better connectivity than the previous one. However, the rank of the pair is much lower, so you have less chance to dominate your opponent postflop. It’s harder to run into a weaker flush, set or flop an overpair. The equity advantage of this hand is much less compared to the previous hand and therefore this hand should just be called from the Big Blind.

BB Versus Two Opponents (BB Versus Button and MP) The Big Blind should rarely fold a Broadway pocket pair against two opponents. You only fold 13.5% of the hands from this category. In multiway pots, nuttiness becomes more important, and, with Broadway pairs, the Big Blind gets an excellent price to try and flop a high set or high flush or straight draw. Fold the weakest Broadway pairs and call the rest. Just remember, you should still be willing to let your hand go on the flop against a bet if you only flop a weak overpair in a multiway pot. The Big Blind should squeeze about 15% of the time versus Button and MP with Broadway pairs. By far, the best hands to squeeze with are Kings. About 35% of Kings should be played this way. Kings are very profitable to use as a squeeze for the following reasons:

♦ The initial open-raiser is supposed to fold with a high frequency against a Big Blind squeeze. They are stuck between you and the Button both preflop and postflop. This makes the EV of a preflop call much worse for the initial raiser. ♦ When you get called, you are usually pushing an equity edge versus their calling range. It’s very profitable for the Big Blind to build a bigger pot with a dominating hand against the cold-caller. If you do get 4-bet, Kings are straightforward to play. Mostly you just fold. Almost all Kings that are also holding an Ace should be squeezed (88%). Just call with rainbow A-K-K combinations. Without an Ace, 25% of the remaining King combos should still be squeezed. These are Kings with high realizability by having both strong connectivity and suitedness. An excellent example of Kings without an Ace that should be squeezed is K♥-K♠-J♥-7♠. This hand has great suitedness and also has some additional connectivity which makes it a great candidate to squeeze. If you get called, there are a lot of ways you can make the best hand postflop or flop good draws and dominate your opponent. When you get 4-bet, you have an easy fold. Queens, Jacks and tens should be squeezed way less often than Kings because these pairs have less chance to dominate the opponent and it’s more likely that you are the one dominated. Some of these lower Broadway pairs should still be squeezed but they require much better additional components to justify this action. They need excellent connectivity plus suitedness or to have an Ace alongside some decent connectivity and/or suitedness. An example is A♥-Q♠-10♥-10♠. This hand has a nut suit as well as a Queen-high suit. It has the potential to make straights, and it can flop a strong set with the tens. The playability, nuttiness, and the fact that this hand blocks Aces makes it a good candidate to squeeze.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) In general, after opening in the Cutoff and getting 3-bet by the Small Blind, you should only fold 11% of the time overall. However, Broadway pairs are folding at double that rate. GTO suggests that you should fold about 23% of the time, call 75% of the time and 4-bet 2% of the time against a Small Blind 3-bet with hands from this category. When facing a 3-bet, you are mainly looking to call with hands that have decent playability and can realize their equity postflop as often as possible.

So, when deciding whether to call or fold, you should mainly be looking at the connectivity and suitedness of the hand. A reason for this high folding frequency can be explained by taking an indepth look at the preflop open-raising ranges from the Cutoff. Almost any combination with two Kings should be open-raised from the Cutoff. On the other hand, when you decide to open-raise from the Cutoff with tens, Jacks and (to a certain degree) with Queens, you have to be more selective and need the right combination of additional backup. You are looking for better suitedness and connectivity with these pairs compared to when you are open raising with Kings. Kings have more equity compared to other Broadway pairs and because of this equity advantage, the sidecards of the hand become less important. A lot of these Kings that don’t have useful additional components have to fold against 3-bets because they lack playability. This is one of the main factors why the overall fold to 3-bet percentage of this category is so high. The second reason is much more straightforward. More than half of the Small Blind 3-betting range is made up of Aces, Kings, and Queens. For this reason, you must be very cautious when you are holding tens, Jacks, or Queens because the Cutoff will be easily dominated with these pairs against a Small Blind 3-betting range. Tip Unless you are facing an opponent who is 3-betting very wide and very aggressively, you should never 4-bet with Broadway pairs IP.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) When you are out of position, the strategy for playing against 3-bets changes. Let’s imagine a scenario where you open from MP, and get 3-bet by the Cutoff. The range of the Cutoff range will mainly consist of Aces, doublesuited rundowns and connected Broadway hands. If you are up against Aces, you are often in terrible shape. If you are up against a rundown, your opponent will flop very smooth which means that they will be able to use their positional advantage by betting on a lot of different boards on which you are often unable to continue. For this reason, you want to fold about 43% of your Broadway pairs when you get 3-bet and are OOP. A few good rules of thumb when it comes to calling 3-bets OOP are:

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Call with hands that have good connectivity. When your hand is rainbow, you always fold. When your hand is double-suited, you always call. When you hold Kings with an Ace, you always call (except for the rainbow hands).

Here are some examples: A♣-Q♠-Q♥-9♠ This hand looks very strong but a higher pair will often dominate the Queens, and you can lose a lot of chips in such a scenario. The hand has medium to strong connectivity and suitedness, but this is not good enough to make up for the equity disadvantage you have with this hand against a tight 3-betting range. This hand should be folded. A♠-K♠-K♥-2♠ Kings are already a much better candidate to call a 3-bet compared to Queens. Kings are less often dominated and you might even be able to dominate your opponent. The suited Ace is very useful, so this hand is a call. J♦-J♥-10♥-8♠ Although the Jacks are easily dominated, the smoothness of this hand makes up for this deficiency. The excellent connectivity and decent suitedness mean that there are a lot of different flops where you can happily get the money in. This hand can call a 3-bet when out of position. When you are OOP, you benefit from ending the pot as soon as possible. Playing at low SPRs is beneficial when you are OOP because you will have to play fewer streets with a positional disadvantage. For this reason, I suggest that you 4-bet Cutoff versus MP with most of the double-suited Broadway pairs that also have an Ace. These hands block Aces and flop enough equity on a high frequency of different boards which means that these hands can go all-in on a wide variety of flops.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button)

Let’s imagine a situation in which the Button opens, you 3-bet from the Small Blind, and the Button 4-bets. How should you approach this situation when you are holding a Broadway pair? Overall, single-suited Broadway pairs should fold about 85% of the time. Suitedness or having an Ace with connectivity are the two most important determinants for the action you should take. Remember that in this case, the rank of your pair is not nearly as important. When it comes to calling 4-bets, it’s all about being able to stack off on as many different boards as possible. When you are holding a double-suited Broadway pair, you should call with the hands that have four cards that are all somewhat connected. As soon as you hold one dangler, you should fold. K♥-10♥-10♠-5♠ is double-suited, but the 5♠ is unconnected with the other cards of your hand and makes this a fold. The hand K♥-K♠-5♥-4♠ is also double-suited but the sidecards are connected. A hand such as K♠-K♥-10♦-9♠ is only single-suited but well connected. These hands can call a 4-bet. When your hand is not double-suited, you should fold about 86% of the time. The only hands that should be called are some of the best connected Kings and Queens. To justify a call with Kings you need a suited Ace and exactly two cards of the same suit, not more.

5-betting (SB Versus Button) When you are holding a double-suited Broadway pair with an Ace, the GTO play is to 5-bet about 90% of the time. Broadway pairs that 5-bet always have an Ace. In fact, every double-suited combo with an Ace except for some of the worst connected tens, should be 5-bet. Some of the best single-suited Broadway pairs that are holding an Ace can also be 5-bet. These need very strong additional connectivity and high equity. An example would be A♠-K♦-K♣-10♠. Exploitative Tip If everyone at your table is playing an optimal strategy, you should be 5betting with almost all double-suited Broadway pairs that also include an Ace. To justify 5-betting, your opponents would need to be 4-betting with hands that aren’t exclusively Aces.

In a GTO scenario, your opponent would also 4-bet some double-suited rundowns, Broadway pairs, and connected Broadway hands. If this isn’t the case in your small stakes or live game, you shouldn’t 5-bet without Aces since your equity won’t be as good. In those games, you should just call with the non-Aces hands that would 5-bet in a GTO scenario.

Category Three: Three Broadway Cards with One Non-Broadway Introduction This category includes all hands that hold exactly three Broadway cards (A10) plus exactly one non-Broadway card (2-9). Hands that belong in other categories (for example rundowns or pairs) are excluded from this category. There are a total of 16,640 different hands in this category which means that you get dealt one of them about 6.15% of the time. The hand with the highest EV in this category is A♥-J♠-10♠-8♥, which ranks in the top 4% of hands. The average rank of a hand in this category is 22.71%.

RFI strategy Early Position From EP, about 39% of hands in this category should be open-raised. The requirements to open-raise from EP are reasonably straightforward. All double-suited hands should be open-raised. With these hands, you can call 3bets due to the excellent playability. These hands do well in multiway pots because they are nutty and can flop nutted draws and high pairs. All rainbowor monotone hands should be folded because they lack playability and nuttiness. When it comes to single-suited variations, the most important differentiator is the Ace. All single-suited hands that are suited to the Ace should be opened. Hands that are trip-suited to the Ace should only be open-raised when all four cards work together, so you should be folding most of these (83%). Almost all single-suited hands without an Ace should be folded (98%). For example, consider A♥-Q♥-J♥-8♠. This hand has a nut suit, is quite well connected, and all four cards are working together. It can flop a lot of straights or straight draws as well as strong two pairs. Holding three cards of the same suit, the suitedness isn’t amazing, but it is an Ace-high suit, which adds nuttiness to the hand.

Hands that are single-suited with an unsuited Ace are mostly folded (about 85%). To be a good open-raise candidate, these hands again need to have four cards that connect well with each other, or the three Broadway cards need to be very high and well connected, such as A♥-K♠-J♦-5♠. The Cutoff margins for when these hands can be folded or open-raised are very thin, and it’s not a big deal if you open-raise slightly too wide or too tight with these hands. If you’re likely to go multiway, as in small stakes games, or play in a highlyraked environment, then fold all but the best single-suited hands without an offsuit Ace. Button As you get closer to the blinds, you can start to open-raise much wider, up to 97% on the Button. Just fold the absolute worst hands, monotone and rainbow hands with danglers such as Q♣-J♠-10♥-2♦.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) Hands in this category that are double-suited and have an Ace are good candidates to 3-bet as long as they have no wheel cards. When you are holding wheel cards, it’s often better to call. Without wheel cards, the hands are often more strongly connected. Without an Ace, 70% of double-suited hands should be folded. In these cases, the connectivity of the hand becomes the critical factor. You only want to 3-bet with the absolute best-connected double-suited hands and you want to call with the hands that are slightly less well connected. An example of a hand that could go for a 3-bet is K♠-J♥-10♥-7♠ because this hand features high cards, combined with good suitedness and connectivity. This hand flops a very smooth equity distribution and has very high realizability. A hand such as K♥-J♥-10♠-5♠ is similar, but the 5♠ makes this hand much less connected compared to the previous hand. The suitedness is also slightly worse which reduces the playability of this hand. It should just be folded. The only single-suited hands in this category that can be 3-bet are the hands that have four connected cards (and all cards 7 or higher) and the hand must also hold a suited Ace. For example, A♠-Q♥-10♦-8♠. This hand has good connectivity combined with a suited Ace which adds nuttiness. However, it is also fine to call these hands preflop. Your preferred action will depend on your opponent and the type of game you are in, as well as the rake structure.

All calling hands have a suited Ace. They are slightly less well-connected than the hands that want to 3-bet but you still need excellent connectivity to call. An example of a hand that would call is A♠-K♦-10♥-8♠. This hand is very similar to the earlier example that you are supposed to 3-bet. The difference is marginal but this hand is slightly less well connected (given the King and 8) which makes it a better candidate for calling rather than 3-betting preflop. Almost all trip-suited hands should be folded when facing a raise, except for the combinations that have very strong connectivity such as A♥-Q♥-10♥9♠. All rainbow hands and monotone hands also fold preflop.

BB Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP The Big Blind is supposed to fold around 57% of hands in this category against an EP raise. The calling range is made up of 38% of the hands in this category, and the remaining 5% should be used as a 3-bet. The two most important factors are again connectivity and suitedness. For example, 100% of the rainbow hands should be folded in this spot, whereas 100% of the double-suited hands should be called or used for a 3-bet. The hands that should be folded either score very poorly in suitedness or connectivity, without making up for this deficiency in the other component. They often have contain a dangler, for example, A♦-K♠-10♥-4♠, making the connectivity weak. As with all the other hands in this category, this combination has some connectivity due to the three Broadway cards. But the 4♠ is a dangler and it is almost worthless versus an EP raising range. The connectivity of this hand is weak compared to all the hands in this category. A♥-K♦-10♥-5♠ has the same connectivity problems as the previous hand. However, the suitedness of this combination is much better, and makes up for the weak connectivity. Therefore, this hand should be called against an EP open-raise. In general, you should never fold a hand from this category with precisely two cards from the same suit, suited to the Ace. When it comes to 3-betting, the hands with the highest raw equity should be used to 3-bet. Most of the hands that are part of this range are doublesuited hands with good connectivity, such as A♠-Q♥-10♥-9♠. There are also a few single-suited hands that can be 3-bet. If a hand is single-suited, it must be extremely well connected to justify 3-betting, such as A♠-J♦-10♥-8♠.

BB Versus Button From the Big Blind, you can play about 81% of all hands in this category against a Button open-raise. Only fold the worst rainbow hands. When you are holding a single-suited hand, you should never be 3-betting without a suited Ace. Around 14% of all the single-suited hands that include a suited Ace can be used for a 3-bet. The remaining 86% should be used to call, as with most of the other hands from this category. Only the best-connected hands are being 3-bet. An example of a 3-betting hand is A♥-Q♥-10♦-8♥. This hand is well connected and has a suited Ace. These two factors make the hand score much higher on realizability. You are also blocking Aces with this hand which means that it’s less likely you get 4bet. Most double-suited hands should be 3-bet (82%). The hands in this category are very nutted because they will very often dominate the Button who has a lot of medium-high card combinations in their range. The doublesuitedness adds a great deal of playability and realizability to the hands and it provides an even more significant equity advantage.

BB Versus Two Opponents (BB Versus Button and MP) In this situation with this category, you should fold 61% of hands, call 32% and squeeze 7%. Fold the hands that have the worst combination of playability and nuttiness. As in most multiway scenarios, all the rainbow hands should be folded. Another example of a hand that you should fold is A♦-Q♥-10♠-2♠. This hand isn’t very nutted and has only a ten-high suit. About 7% should be squeezed. The hands that should be squeezed here are almost all double-suited hands with an Ace. Double-suited hands without an Ace should mainly be called. The remaining 32% of hands should be called. These hands either score well on playability but bad in nuttiness, well in nuttiness but bad in playability or they have an average score in both categories. Some examples are: K♠-J♥-10♥-3♠ This hand has three connected Broadway cards and the suits are decently high. However, it doesn’t have an Ace, which is usually a requirement

when it comes to squeezing. This hand also holds a dangler which makes the connectivity much worse and turns this hand into a call. A♠-K♥-10♦-3♠ This hand is more nutted due to the suited Ace, but it’s just single-suited and also holding a dangler. For those reasons, this hand should also be called.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) Single-suited hands without an Ace should always call the 3-bet. Not holding an Ace means you are automatically well enough connected to be able to call 3-bets because you will be holding three cards that are between a King and a ten. The suit doesn’t even matter anymore if the connectivity is this good. Single-suited hands with a suited Ace should also always be called preflop in position. Single-suited hands with an Ace that isn’t suited should mostly be folded (70%). Only the hands with the best connectivity can be called, such as A♦-J♥-10♠-8♠. There are very few hands in this category that want to go for a 4-bet (1.4%). They are the most connected double-suited hands with an Ace, such as A♥-10♥-J♠-8♠. Hands like this block Aces, and the great suitedness and connectivity means that this hand will do quite well in 4-bet pots because it hits many different board types. With these hands, you can also call a 5-bet. Other double-suited hands always call.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) Playing OOP, about 40% of hands should be folded when facing a 3-bet. The hands in this category are built heavily on Broadway cards, so it is easy to lose a lot of money when your opponent is holding Aces or Kings. You also suffer from a proximity effect, meaning you will flop fewer outs to two pair even when you do flop a top pair hand. For that reason, you must be very cautious against 3-bets and you should be folding with a high frequency when OOP. It’s tough to maneuver with hands from this category in postflop situations in 3-bet pots. Playing OOP, your 4-betting range is a little wider when compared to playing IP because you benefit more from the lower SPRs which minimize your positional disadvantage. You should 4-bet about 3.4% of your range. An

example of a hand that should be 4-bet is A♥-Q♠-10♠-9♥. This hand is blocking Aces and flops very smooth. It is well connected, nutted, and it has excellent suitedness. When it comes to playing against 3-bets OOP, the same principles apply as playing against 3-bet IP and you are mainly looking for realizability to justify a call. Hands in this category without an Ace should always be called because these hands are very well connected, and the same holds true for all the double-suited hands. However single-suited hands with an Ace are folding slightly more often. The connectivity of these hands is a little worse and they also have a much harder time playing against 3-betting ranges that are Aces-heavy. To call when you are holding a single-suited hand with an Ace, you need improved additional connectivity.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) Facing a 4-bet you can call with all hands that 3-bet that don’t include an Ace. Most 4-betting ranges are heavily weighted towards Aces. When you are not holding an Ace yourself, you get the correct odds preflop to try and flop a good pair with additional backup so you can stack off with sufficient equity. Almost all double-suited hands can also be called, even the ones that have an Ace. When your hand is single-suited and includes an Ace, you should be folding much more often. Only 12% of single-suited hands with an Ace should call when facing a 4-bet. The reason is that the Ace is a useless card to hold when you are mainly up against Aces. Flopping an Ace pair is never going to help you and will only result in you getting stacked. Flopping two pair with an Ace will also mean that you will very often run into top set. Only the best of the best hands when it comes to connectivity with a suited Ace can call 4-bets, such as A♥-J♣-10♠-8♥.

Category Four: Double-paired Introduction This category includes all hands that hold exactly two pairs. There are a total of 2,808 different hands in this category, meaning you get dealt one of these hands about 1.04% of the time. This category includes a lot of very strong hands, but also a few weak ones. The hand with the highest EV in this category is A♣-A♠-J♣-J♠, which ranks in the top 1% of hands. The average rank of this category is 19.53%.

RFI Strategy From EP, approximately 82% of all double-paired hands should be openraised. The hands that don’t want to be open-raised are very disconnected hands with at least one very low pair or hands where the connectivity and rank are very marginal and the hand is rainbow. An example of a hand that should fold preflop from early position is J♣-J♦3♥-3♠. This hand has one very low pair combined with a low Broadway pair. There is no connectivity and it is rainbow. The combination of these weak features means that this hand should be open-folded preflop. As you get closer to the blinds, you can start to open wider. From the Button, 100% of the double-paired hands should be opened.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) Double-paired hands can often fight back against a raise. The MP player should only fold about 23% of all double-paired hands when facing an EP raise. The hands that score the worst when it comes to suitedness, connectivity and high card rank should fold. An example is 8♠-8♣-2♠-2♥. This hand is too disconnected and the pairs are too low to consider playing. In this situation, you are often going to end up in a multiway pot if you decide to call and this hand doesn’t have enough nuttiness to be profitable in multiway pots. All double-paired Aces should be 3-bet. Other double pairs that 3-bet are well connected and double-suited hands such as 8♥-8♠-6♥-6♠. Double-paired

hands flop a set almost 25% of the time and that set is going to be a great hand to have in a heads-up 3-bet pot. 3-betting allows you to maximize the EV with these hands and complement your re-raising range.

BB Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP The EP open-raiser has a lot of high Broadway pairs in their range which means that the Big Blind can easily be dominated. Even then, most doublepaired hands have enough equity to continue versus an EP open-raise and only the worst 3% of should be folded. These hands are rainbow ones such as 9♣-9♠-2♥-2♣ – a hand that doesn’t have straight or flush possibilities. Your calling range of approximately 55% consists mainly of hands that lack high cards, great suits, or excellent connectivity. These hands have good enough equity to see a flop, but they don’t have enough playability to inflate the pot OOP by 3-betting. An example of a hand that should be called is K♥-K♦-2♥-2♠. This hand has one very high pair and one very low pair. It has one high suit and no connectivity. Given this hand’s postflop equity distribution and facing a strong range, its more profitable to just call with this hand than to 3-bet. The hands that are better off 3-betting rather than calling either have Aces, high card strength, great suitedness or great connectivity. These factors often provide an equity advantage and these components also make it easier to realize the equity advantage in 3-bet pots. The more of these factors that are featured in your hand, the more likely it is that you want to 3-bet. Another example would be 6♠-6♣-5♠-5♦. The suitedness of this hand is quite marginal and so are the rank of the pairs. But the connectivity is very good, and therefore this hand should be 3-bet. BB Versus Button When facing a Button raise, the Big Blind should not fold any double-paired hand and should, in fact, 3-bet most of them (83%). The key factors when it comes to calling or 3-betting are the ranks of the pairs and the suitedness. Rainbow hands need to have high ranked pairs or two pairs that are well connected to justify a 3-bet. A hand such as J♣-J♠-8♦-8♥ should be 3-bet because the rank of both pairs is at least medium strength and the hand has some connectivity. A hand such as Q♣-Q♦-3♠-3♥ should be called because

the ranks of the pairs aren’t as good compared to the previous example and the hand is also disconnected. Hands that aren’t rainbow should almost always be 3-bet (91.2%). Only the worst of the worst non-rainbow hands should be called, for example 8♣8♠-2♥-2♠.

BB Versus Two Opponents (Button and MP) The player in the Big Blind doesn’t fold any double-paired hand when facing a MP open-raise and a Button cold call. The Big Blind is calling 60% and squeezing 40% of hands in this category. The equity of these hands, combined with pot odds you get in the Big Blind, is just too attractive a combination to consider folding any double-paired hand. However, you should exercise caution with double-paired hands that lack nuttiness. Flopping middle or bottom sets without much backup can get you into a lot of trouble in big pots. As we’ll see in the postflop section, facing two opponents in single-raised pots some of these hands are just calling down rather than trying to get all the money in on the flop. If you have some fold equity, the stronger half of these hands are going to want to squeeze and head into low SPR scenarios in order to maximize their EV. Just as with the previous categories, a combination of having high-rank pairs, connectivity, and suitedness are the requirements for a squeeze. These factors make it much easier to realize the equity of double-paired hands because they can continue against a bet or bet themselves much more often compared to hands with less playability. For example, a hand such as Q♠-Q♥-4♠-4♥ is good enough to squeeze. It has one high Broadway pair and the suitedness is very good. A hand such as 10♠-10♥-2♠-2♥ has two lower ranking pairs which means that the sets and flush draws this hand can flop are much less valuable. Therefore, this hand should be called preflop rather than squeezed.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) The IP player is supposed to never fold against a 3-bet after open-raising when holding a double-paired hand. These hands tend to hit or miss the flop. Decisions are easy and when you do hit (25% of the time) you’ll do incredibly well against an overpair that is c-bet and stacking off or even against a pair plus draw combination. You should be happy to play 3-bet pots

with these hands in position.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) Even OOP, a double-paired hand should seldom be folded (only 1.9% of the time). The EV of these hands will not be the same as when IP because it’s harder to realize the equity. Nevertheless, they still are good enough for a call. Exploitative Tip If you believe your opponent 3-bets very wide, you could also include some of the best double-suited and connected hands into your 4-betting range. Adding a hand such as 10♥-10♠-9♥-9♠ to your 4-betting range makes you a tougher player to play against because your opponents can’t assume that you only hold Aces when you are 4-betting. This type of hand also has decent equity against pretty much every hand, so you can call a 5-bet all-in.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) When you 3-bet Small Blind versus Button and face a 4-bet, you are supposed to fold 30% of the time. The main determinant when it comes to calling or folding is the playability of the hand. In 4-bet pots, all the money can already go in on the flop with just one bet. Therefore it’s essential that you can profitably call on as many boards as possible and you don’t want to end up in 4-bet pots with hands that can rarely continue against a bet because this is a sure fire way to burn a lot of chips. For example, all rainbow hands that don’t include two Aces should be folded preflop. A hand such as K♦-K♠-6♥-6♠ should be folded against a 4-bet because it won’t be able to continue often enough against a flop bet. This hand only has one suit, no connectivity, and just one high pair. However, a hand such as K♠-K♥-3♠-3♥ is supposed to call a 4-bet because this hand is double-suited meaning it can continue against a bet on more flops. When it comes to 5-betting, you only want to do this with Aces or some very strong double-suited well-connected hands such as K♥-K♠-10♥10♠.However, just calling with this type of hand is also perfectly fine,

meaning that the EV for both plays is similar. Make your decision based on how narrow your opponent’s 4-betting range is.

Category Five: Rundowns Introduction This category includes all hands that have four connected non-paired cards with a maximum of two gaps, for example 8♠-6♣-5♦-4♥. There are a total of 15,616 different hands in this category, which means that you get dealt one of these hands about 5.77% of the time. This category includes a wide variety of hands and there is a big difference between their relative strengths. The hand with the highest EV is A♥-Q♠-J♥10♠, which is an amazing hand and ranks in the top 3%. The average rank of this category is 43.76%. The trash hand 7♣-4♥-3♦-2♠ is the worst hand in this category. As is well known, rundowns with gaps at the bottom are stronger than rundowns with gaps at the top. This is because when you have a gap at the top, you are more likely to flop a dominated straight draw. For example, if the flop is 9-7-2, you would much rather have the 13-card nut wrap with J10-8-x than 10-8-6-x or 8-6-5-x. Note the gap at the top of these non-nutted draws.

RFI Strategy All hands in the rundown category are connected. Given this, the two most important determinants are the ranks and the suitedness. High rundowns are much more valuable because they are more likely to flop high pairs and the top end of a straight draw. This is especially the case from EP because nuttiness plays a bigger factor. For example, a hand such as 8♣-7♠-5♥-4♣ will make the bottom end of a straight far more often than a hand such as Q♣-J♠-9♥-8♣. The higher the rank of the rundown, the more nutted the hand is and the more likely it is that the hand should be open-raised from EP. Let’s consider some numbers to illustrate this concept. Overall, 56% of the hands in this category should be folded from EP and the remaining 44% should be open-raised. Rundowns featuring a Queen are open-raised about 60% of the time from EP whereas rundowns that include a four are only open-raised about 20% of the time.

Suitedness is another critical aspect. Rainbow rundowns are almost always folded from early position (92%). Only the most nutted rainbow combos such as A♣-K♦-Q♠-J♥ should be raised. About 50% of the single-suited rundowns should be open-raised. When it comes to the Button open-raising range, the nuttiness of the hand is less important because there are fewer players left to act, decreasing the likelihood of seeing a multiway flop. From the Button, only the worst 22% of rundown hands should be folded. These either hold a lot of low cards or have very bad suits, for example 6♥-5♣-3♠-2♠. The rank of the cards in this hand is just too low to justify an open-raise. This hand will flop very weak holdings such as bottom pair, bottom two pair or weak straight and flush draws.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) Medium to low rundowns are often dominated by the range of the EP player and do very poorly when it comes to nuttiness. That said, rundowns have good playability in heads-up pots since they generally flop very smooth. For these reasons, about 12% of rundowns should be 3-bet. The hands that want to 3-bet are either double-suited or contain an Ace. Holding an Ace means that it is much less likely you will get 4-bet because you heavily reduce the chance that somebody else at the table is holding Aces. Other rundowns that are good candidates for a 3-bet are double-suited rundowns with strong connectivity and medium to high ranks. Rundowns that feature these components often have an equity advantage and the realizability of this equity is very high. A hand such as 10♥-9♥-8♠-7♠ doesn’t include many high cards so it would not perform amazingly well in multiway pots. However, the playability of this hand is extremely high because of the good connectivity and suitedness. This hand flops very smooth and there will be many different favorable flops for this hand. For these reasons, this hand will maximize its EV by 3-betting. The remaining 18% of rundowns should be called. Remember, when you call an EP raise it is likely you will end up playing a multiway pot and need nutted components. The higher the rank of the rundown, the more likely it is that you should call rather than fold. Another important factor is the suitedness of the hand. If you are holding good suitedness along with some medium-ranking to high-ranking cards, the chance that you should call is very high.

What about a hand such as 7♠-6♥-5♣-4♣? The ranks of the cards in this hand are quite low, which means it lacks nuttiness. For that reason, you might think that this hand should be 3-bet. But this hand really doesn’t have as great equity or playability as the previous one, so it isn’t able to gain more EV by 3-betting than by playing in a smaller pot. It does however manage to call profitably and, compared to folding, gains marginal EV.

BB Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP The Big Blind folds about 40% of rundowns when facing an EP raise. You are getting good odds to see a flop with hands that flop very smooth and are a good fit for heads-up pots. The combinations that are folded consist of those with numerous low cards such as 9♥-8♥-7♠-4♠ or hands that have poor suitedness and connectivity such as Q♠-J♥-8♠-7♠. You could make an argument that Q♠-J♥-8♠-7♠ is well connected but, compared to all other rundowns, it is one of the worst connected hands because it has two gaps. These two hands don’t have enough playability to continue versus a strong EP range and should, therefore, be folded. When the rank of the cards is higher, or the connectivity or suitedness is better, a call becomes profitable. Facing an EP raise, the Big Blind is supposed to 3-bet 8.5% of the best rundowns. These hands are all double-suited but this doesn’t mean every double-suited hand should 3-bet. All double-suited rundowns that include an Ace should be 3-bet and the absolute best of the best connected and high card ranked hands such as 10♥-9♥-8♠-7♠ should also be 3-bet because of the equity advantage and the high realizability of these hands. BB Versus Button Against a late position open, the Big Blind is supposed to fold 26% of hands against the Button, call 54% and 3-bet with 20%. Remember the Button is opening about 50% of hands, so you can profitably play a wider range and also be more aggressive compared to when facing an EP open. On average your rundowns will have more equity. You are 3-betting about 2.5x times more often than versus an EP raise. Similarly, it still holds true that double-suited hands and hands with an Ace are 3-bet. The difference is that you can now expand your 3-betting range by

adding more double-suited hands and hands with an Ace, either double-suited or single-suited. For example, A♠-K♥-Q♠-J♠ is a hand that should be called against an EP open-raise because the suitedness isn’t good enough to 3-bet. But against a Button open-raise, this hand should be 3-bet. The combination of a suited Ace, good connectivity and the high rank of the cards make up for the tripsuitedness and, against a wide opener, this hand gains more EV by 3-betting compared to calling.

BB Versus Two Opponents (Button and MP) By now you should know that you must play tighter as more players enter the pot and that nuttiness is very important. Facing two opponents, you should call from the Big Blind with 54% of your rundowns. This category of hands gives you the ability to flop straights and straight draws that your opponents won’t often hold themselves, given that their ranges are more skewed towards high cards and high pairs. Hands that include many low cards still need excellent connectivity and decent suitedness to call. Importantly, being double-suited in this instance doesn’t make up for low disconnected cards because, in a multiway pot, low suits are more often dominated and therefore of lower value. About 10% of rundowns should squeeze. Your squeezing range consists only of double-suited hands and some of the best possible rundowns with an Ace such as A♦-K♦-Q♥-10♠. When it comes to squeezing with double-suited hands, the Ace is not a very important card. The primary determinants are the rank and the connectivity of the rundown. Overall, around half of all the double-suited hands should be squeezed in this scenario. The higher the rank and the better the connectivity, the more likely it is that the Big Blind should squeeze. A hand such as 6♠-5♥-4♥-3♠ should be called from the Big Blind. A hand such as Q♥-10♥-9♠-8♠ is a much better candidate to squeeze because it has a much higher EV in a 3-bet, three-way pot at a low SPR. Exploitative Adjustment The 10% squeezing frequency is based on the original open-raiser folding about 50% of the time against a Big Blind squeeze. In most small stakes or live games, this will not be the case. Your opponent might call much wider than that. If you believe that

your opponent is folding much less, you should adjust by squeezing a lot tighter. Against such an opponent, don’t squeeze with any rundowns that are lower than ten-high, because these hands won’t have an equity advantage.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) Rundowns should seldom be folded against a 3-bet when you are IP. In the Small Blind versus Cutoff scenario, the only hands that could consider folding are Broadway rundowns that have two gaps and marginal suitedness, such as A♠-K♠-10♠-9♠. The Small Blind 3-betting range has a lot of high Broadway pairs, against which weak Broadway rundowns without much backup don’t do very well. All other rundowns have enough equity and realizability to continue against a 3-bet when IP. About 2.5% of all rundowns should be 4-betting from the Cutoff when facing a Small Blind 3-bet. Double-suited rundowns can also be an excellent addition to your 4-betting range because they complement an Aces-heavy range so well. This makes you less predictable. If you only 4-bet with Aces, it becomes straightforward for your opponents to play against you both preflop and postflop. Double-suited rundowns have very high realizability and cover different board structures than Aces. Having some double-suited rundowns in your 4-betting range means your opponent can’t blindly bet any flop that isn’t good for Aces because you will also hit some medium strength boards with your rundowns, such as a J♠-10♥-8♣ board. If you only have Aces in your 4-betting range, you won’t hit this board very often, and your opponent can start attacking you on medium and low boards. By having some rundowns in your range, you prevent this from happening. Furthermore, your opponent won’t expect you to have these types of hands, so you can surprise them and get all the money in with a lot of equity on these boards when you do. Finally, these double-suited rundowns can also continue against a 5-bet because they have decent equity against Aces. The hands that should go for a 4-bet are always double-suited along with an Ace and good connectivity, meaning you are less likely to get 5-bet. Some hands want to 4-bet without holding an Ace, but these hands need to be very well connected and they shouldn’t include many cards that are overlapping with the 3-betting range of your opponent. An example of such a hand is

10♥-9♠-7♥-6♠. Again, when discussing 4-betting, adjust to your opponent’s preflop tendencies. If someone is 3-betting too narrow, just calling IP and using positional advantage is likely more profitable.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) When facing a 3-bet OOP, the initial raiser should fold only 7% of all rundowns. Fold Broadway rundowns which don’t do very well against the Broadway-pair-heavy range of the 3-bettor. When OOP, it becomes more attractive to add some rundowns to your 4betting range because this will lead to low SPRs on the flop meaning you have to play fewer streets with a positional disadvantage. MP should 4-bet about 6% of the time against a Cutoff 3-bet, which is twice as much as the Cutoff versus the Small Blind. The same 4-bet principles hold OOP as IP, but the threshold goes down slightly, meaning you widen your range and include some hands that are slightly weaker. A strong hand such as K♠-10♥-9♥-8♠ should call against a 3-bet when IP but OOP it becomes more attractive to 4bet. This is because when you have a positional disadvantage, you will be able to realize more equity at a lower SPR.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) Rundowns should rarely be 5-bet against a 4-bet because they don’t have enough equity against the 4-bet ranges of most players to justify getting all the money in. 75% of the rundowns should call against a 4-bet, and the remaining hands should be folded. A Good Rule of Thumb Rundowns that include four Broadway cards should be folding against a 4-bet, all the other hands should call. The reason for this is that most 4-betting ranges are very Aces-heavy. With four Broadway cards, you are usually in terrible shape against Aces because you are very dominated and suffer from a proximity effect. This means the chance that you will flop a good hand when you are holding four Broadway cards that are up against Aces is meager because a lot of your outs are blocked. If you are not holding four Broadway cards, your hand almost always has enough playability and realizability to be able to call the 4-bet.

Category Six: Two Broadway Cards with Two Medium-Low Connectors Introduction This category includes all hands that include two Broadway cards and two medium to low connectors. An example of a hand in this category would be K♥-10♥-6♣-4♣. There are a total of 30,976 different hands in this category which means that you get dealt one of these hands about 11.44% of the time. Compared to most other categories, these hands score relatively poorly in equity because they are so disconnected. The hand with the highest EV in this category is A♥-10♠-9♠-8♥, which ranks in the top 7%. The average rank is 39.50%.

RFI Strategy From EP, only about 16% of all the hands in this category should be openraised. To justify an open-raise, a hand needs to have the right combination of nuttiness and playability. A hand such as A♠-K♥-7♠-5♥ is good enough to raise. The A-K high cards with the double suits provide this hand with a lot of nuttiness, compensating for the poor connectivity. A♥-4♥-J♠-2♠ is a hand that should be folded from EP. This hand is also double-suited and has an Ace-high suit but it has lower cards and thus less nuttiness than the previous hand. Therefore it should be folded. From the Button, about 62% of hands should be open-raised, which is a lot higher compared to the 16% open-raising frequency from EP. The difference is easy to understand. The hands in this category generally have at least some connectivity, and therefore they often have decent playability. However, a lot of these hands lack nuttiness, which is very important when it comes to an EP raising range. From the Button, playability is more important than nuttiness, which explains the massive difference between the EP and Button openraising range.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP)

About 92% of all hands in this category should be folded from MP against an EP open-raise. The hands in this category don’t have the components which are needed in multiway pots, so the folding frequency in this situation is very high. The hands that should be called are the hands that score the highest when it comes to nuttiness. Almost all the hands that call contain a suited Ace. Holding this card improves the nuttiness of a hand and therefore makes it a much better fit for a multiway pot. An example of a hand that should call in this situation is A♥Q♥-5♠-4♠. This hand is double-suited and it has an Ace-high suit meaning it at least has some nutted components. The nut suit gives you the possibility to dominate your opponents postflop, which is one of the most important features of a hand in multiway pots. Although the connectivity isn’t the best, there is still a chance to flop straights or straight draws with this hand which makes it more profitable to call than fold. Some of the most connected double-suited hands can still be used for a 3bet. For example, Q♥-10♠-9♥-7♠ is an excellent hand to 3-bet because it lacks in nuttiness but scores very well when it comes to playability. With this hand, you benefit from pushing out players behind you who are still left to act. This hand also does well in heads-up 3-bet pots because it has a very smooth equity distribution profile, meaning it flops a decent amount of equity on a lot of different boards.

BB Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP Against a strong EP raise, you should fold 78% of the hands in this category and only about 20% should be called. You have a high fold frequency because the EP’s range includes a lot of hands that are more nutted than the hands in this category and many hands are directly dominated by the highcard-heavy EP range. The hands that call have good playability and realizability. Hands such as A♥-J♠-4♥-3♠ and J♥-10♠-5♥-4♠ are two examples of hands that can call from the Big Blind against an EP open-raise. These hands are both double-suited and have some decent connectivity and thus, realizability. The hands in this category that have the absolute best playability should be 3-bet, for example K♥-10♥-9♠-7♠. This hand has decent connectivity and suitedness as well as some high cards. It is therefore a very good fit for

heads-up 3-bet pots. Be aware that only about 2% of all hands in this category should be 3-bet because most hands in this category are not benefiting from building a big pot against the tight EP open-raising range. Playing exploitatively, this can easily diminish to 0% versus a tighter EP raiser or someone who will never fold against a 3-bet. BB Versus Button Facing the Button, the Big Blind should only fold 40% of the time with 51% calling and 9% 3-betting. The Big Blind can include more hands into calling and 3-betting ranges because they are facing a much wider range. A hand such as A♠-K♠-6♠-5♠ can be called against the Button but not against the EP player. Facing the Button, you don’t need a perfect combination of all the different components. The high card value and the decent connectivity make up for the weak suitedness so the hand should be called. Against an EP raise, you need a stronger combination of suitedness, connectivity, and high card value to be able to play. Almost all of the 9% of hands that 3-bet are double-suited. Double-suited hands with decent connectivity and high card value should almost always be 3-bet in this situation, an example being K♠-Q♥-7♠-6♥. Remember that the most critical parameter for 3-betting from the Big Blind is the realizability of equity. Because this hand has such good suitedness, connectivity and high card value, the realizability is very high. It therefore maximizes EV by 3betting. The rare single-suited hands from this category that are 3-betting have multiple strong components, such as the strong high card value and connectivity found in A♥-J♥-9♠-8♣.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) The hands from this category that are raised from the Cutoff have high realizability. As a result, only the worst 11% of the hands in this category should be folding against a 3-bet when IP. For example, hands such as A♥K♠-7♠-5♠. The suitedness and connectivity are very mediocre and this hand is often dominated by the Small Blind 3-betting range. These factors make it hard to realize full equity with this hand and therefore it should be folded. A few hands, about 5% of this category, are good candidates to 4-bet versus the Small Blind. These hands are double-suited, well connected and feature an Ace. A hand such as A♥-J♠-9♥-7♠ would be an excellent hand to

4-bet. It blocks Aces and has very high realizability because of its good connectivity and suitedness. The rare hands without an Ace that can be used to 4-bet are ones such as Q♥-10♠-8♥-6♠. Keep in mind that you only want to 4-bet this type of hand if you know your opponent isn’t 3-betting exclusively with Aces and you have some fold equity.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) When you are OOP, you should be calling less and 4-betting more, compared to when IP. Aim to fold about 24% of hands, more than double than when playing IP. A hand such as A♥-K♥-9♦-7♣ should be folded because this hand doesn’t have enough realizability to call profitably OOP. Playing IP, this hand could be called because it is easier to realize its full equity. Playing OOP, about 10% of these hands should be 4-bet, which is also double the frequency as when you are IP. Again, the main reason for this is the fact that when OOP, it’s harder to realize equity because you will be playing multiple streets with a positional disadvantage. By 4-betting, you are setting up an SPR of close to 1 and the rest of money can go in on the flop, minimizing your positional disadvantage. The hands that should be 4-bet are made up of double-suited hands with an Ace. The difference between 4-betting IP or OOP is that OOP the minimum required connectivity is less. Playing IP you want all four cards to be somewhat connected, but OOP that doesn’t have to be the case. Playing OOP, you can 4-bet a hand such as A♥-Q♥-7♠-6♠. When IP, this hand would just be calling.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) Most hands that the Small Blind would 3-bet in this category have a lot of playability, so most of them can continue versus a 4-bet (80%). Since all hands that 3-bet are already well connected, the primary factor is suitedness. Interestingly, about 80% of the double-suited hands should be called, while about 80% of the non-double-suited hands should fold. The double-suited hands that should fold have a combination of weak connectivity and low cards, for example A♥-J♠-5♥-3♠. Hands that are single-suited but are calling must be well connected and need some high and medium ranking cards. For example, K♦-10♦-9♥-7♠ is a hand that is non-double-suited, but should still be calling a 4-bet. This hand

has great connectivity, decent suitedness and is not directly dominated by Aces, all of which makes it more likely that you will be able to realize your equity.

Category Seven: Three Card Rundown with a Broadway Card Introduction This category includes all hands with a three-card non-Broadway rundown, with a maximum of one gap, plus a Broadway card. An example of a hand in this category would be K♣-8♥-6♥-5♣. There are a total of 17,152 different hands in this category which means that you get dealt one of these hands about 6.34% of the time. On average, hands in this category aren’t very strong when it comes to raw equity. The hand with the highest EV in this category is A♠-9♥-8♥-7♠, which ranks in the top 9% of hands. The average rank of this category is 62.03%.

RFI Strategy Early Position Most hands in this category lack nuttiness, which is crucial for your EP range. Therefore, around 87% of this category should be folded. The hands that do want to open-raise are mostly strong double-suited combinations. Double-suited hands that do not contain an Ace but do include wheel cards should be folded. All the other double-suited hands should be open-raised. For example, Q♥-6♥-5♠-3♠ is a hand that lacks nuttiness. It has three cards which are close to being wheel cards and the Queen is disconnected and not strong enough to cover for the lack of nuttiness. This hand is therefore a fold. The hand K♥-8♥-7♠-6♠ has higher ranked cards and slightly more nuttiness. This hand is a marginal raise from EP but should generally still be folded if you expect multiple callers. Hands from this category that are not double-suited combinations should mostly be folded. The single-suited hands which we can still raise from EP are three medium high-card rundowns with a suited Ace. A suited Ace with wheel cards should still be folded from this position. Button

Overall, you are raising the stronger 50% of this category from the Button. From this position, nuttiness becomes less critical compared to playability. The hands in this category always have at least three cards that are connected, but you still want to pay attention to the precise rank of the Broadway card. A three-card rundown with an Ace should be opened about 69% of the time, whereas a three-card rundown with a ten is only opened about 22% of the time. Use your judgment and remember to adjust versus the opponents at the table. If they are loose or aggressive, be a little more selective with your opening range.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) Almost every hand in this category should be folding from MP against an EP raise (92%). The hands in this category aren’t strong enough to justify a call because they are so easily dominated and don’t have a lot of nuttiness. The few hands that can be called (5%), include some of the most connected Ace-high suited hands such as A♠-8♥-7♣-6♠. Logically, the 3% of hands from this category that 3-bet are the most connected double-suited hands with an Ace, for example A♥-8♥-7♠-6♠.

BB Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP The player in the Big Blind must play relatively tightly against an EP openraise and should therefore fold about 80% of these hands and call with the rest. In this category there is no hand good enough to inflate the pot by 3betting, since none of them have an equity advantage against an EP range. The 20% calling range consists mainly of the double-suited and the best single-suited hands. A hand such as Q♥-7♥-6♠-5♠ should be called because of the combination of decent suitedness and decent connectivity. The hand J♣-4♣-3♠-2♠ has almost the same type of suitedness and connectivity as the previous example but the rank of the cards in this hand is lower which makes folding the correct play. In the long run, calling would just cost money. BB Versus Button Against a much wider Button range, the Big Blind can widen his calling range and even 3-bet some hands. About 60% of hands should be folded, 36% should be called, and 4% should be used to 3-bet.

The hands that are good enough to 3-bet are double-suited hands with high ranked cards and great connectivity. Double-suited hands with an Ace-high or King-high suit are 3-betting about half the time, when they have mediumhigh side cards. But a double-suited hand with a ten in this category is never 3-betting.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) In this situation, the IP open-raiser should never be folding against a Small Blind 3-bet. All hands in this category that are opened by the Cutoff flop with a smooth equity distribution. As a result, the realizability of these hands is good enough to call a preflop 3-bet when IP. Some of the most connected double-suited hands with an Ace can also be used as a 4-bet. Hands such as A♥-9♥-8♠-6♠ flop a high amount of equity on a high frequency of different boards, block Aces, and can call a 5-bet preflop.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) Similarly, OOP almost every hand that was raised from MP should be called. Just fold the worst 5% of hands. As before, the main difference between being IP or OOP is the 4-betting range. MP is supposed to 4-bet almost 10% of hands, which is more than double the 4-bet frequency from IP. As you now know by now, it’s tough to realize equity when you play multiple streets OOP. Combined with preflop fold equity, you maximize your EV with some hands by 4-betting compared to calling OOP.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) It’s rather straightforward to play against a preflop 4-bet with hands from this category. They always call, even OOP. The reason is that the 3-betting range is only made up of the best suited and most connected hands. These hands all score very well when it comes to realizability and, therefore, they can all call 4-bets.

Category Eight: Mid-Low Pairs Introduction This category includes all hands that have a single pair between 2-2 and 9-9. Hands with three cards of the same rank, such as 9♣-9♦-9♠-4♠, and doublepaired hands are excluded. There are a total of 50,688 different hands in this category which means that you get dealt one of these hands 18.72% of the time. The raw equity of the hands in this category on average isn’t strong. The hand with the highest EV in this category is A♥-10♠-9♥-9♠, which ranks in the top 5% of hands. The average rank of this category is 59.35%.

RFI Strategy Early Position From early position, very few mid-low pairs are supposed to raise (8%). The only hands that are included in the EP open-raising range are the most nutted double-suited hands. Some examples of hands from this category are: A♥-7♠-6♥-6♠ This double-suited hand has some connectivity and a nut suit and is therefore good enough to raise from EP. A♥-3♠-2♥-2♠ This hand also has a nut suit and is better connected than the previous hand. But the ranks of the cards are much lower and easily dominated. This hand is a fold. 7♥-7♠-6♥-4♠ This hand doesn’t have any high cards but all four cards are connected and it is double-suited. This makes up for the low rank of the cards and results in it being a profitable raise from EP.

Button From the Button, you can raise about 46% of all mid-low pairs. The main differentiator is the rank of the pair. About 65% of all 9-9-x-x combinations should be opened, compared to only about 25% of all 2-2-x-x. The second most important factor is the suitedness of the hand. Only about 8% of all rainbow hands should open-raise, whereas about 88% of all the double-suited hands should be open-raised. A single-suited hand such as A♦J♠-3♠-3♣ is a raise from the Button, but a fold from any other position. Changing the Ace into a King or making it a rainbow hand makes it a fold even from the Button.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) The hands in this category are generally very non-nutted and therefore they should rarely be calling a raise. You should fold 95%, call 3% and 3-bet 2% of mid-low pairs. The hands that call are some medium-high pairs, suited to the Ace or some of the most connected double-suited hands such as 8♥-8♠-7♥-6♠. Hands that 3-bet are double-suited and have both an Ace with decent connectivity, for example A♥-J♠-8♥-8♠.

BB Versus One Opponent BB Versus EP Against an open-raise from EP, the Big Blind is supposed to fold about 79%, call 20% and 3-bet with just the top 1% of hands. Again, the rank of the pair is the most important factor, followed by suitedness and connectivity. To call from the Big Blind versus EP, you will need a combination of these three factors. For example, 7♦-7♥-5♦-4♠ has decent connectivity, has one of the higher pairs in this category and is single-suited. Together these components make this a profitable call. The hand 7♦-7♥-6♦-2♥ has the same pair and is doublesuited, but the 2♥ doesn’t add value to this hand and makes folding the best option against an EP raise. BB Versus Button Playing from the Big Blind against a Button raise, you should fold about 49%, call 48% and 3-bet 3% with mid-low pairs. Your calling and 3-betting

ranges are significantly wider. Let’s consider some examples of hands you might want to fold against an EP open-raise but that you should play against the Button. A♦-J♠-2♠-2♥ This hand, with a low-ranking pair and weak suitedness, isn’t good enough to call versus a dominating EP range. However, when your opponent’s range becomes wider, this hand gains enough equity and realizability to justify a call. 8♥-7♥-7♠-2♠ Similarly, this weak hand is too heavily dominated by the EP range but, given its two suits, plays decently versus a wider Button raising range. 8♥-8♠-7♥-6♠ This hand can call an EP raise, but should 3-bet against the Button. There are a few reasons that explain this difference. The hand doesn’t hold an Ace blocker, which makes it much more likely that you get 4bet when you 3-bet versus EP compared to the Button. When 3-betting against the Button, not having an Ace is not as important because Aces are a much smaller part of their range. Additionally, this hand has more equity versus the Button compared to the EP open-raising range. Your fold equity should also be higher and you are less likely to be dominated by a better flush or straight draws. When the Button calls, you improve your board coverage on medium-low boards and gain some bluffing opportunities on dry Ace-high flops.

Big Blind Versus Two Opponents (Button and MP) Facing two players, the Big Blind should fold about 63% and call about 36% of mid-low pairs. The reason for this high folding frequency is the lack of nuttiness. Although the Big Blind is getting an excellent price to try and flop a set as more players enter the pot the nuttiness requirement increases. If you have a nut suit and great connectivity, or a medium pair with a good suit you can stick around. An example of a hand that should be called is A♥3♥-2♠-2♦. This hand has a very weak pair and some weak connectivity. But the suited Ace adds enough nuttiness to the hand to make it a profitable call.

Although small pairs aren’t very nutted, they can still be played if they have backup. Flopping a set of deuces on a Q♥-8♠-2♦ board would be a decent result if you have a backdoor flush draw and straight draw to accompany it. If you have no backup, you are going to have trouble realizing the equity of your hands and should prefer to fold. A hand such as K♠-Q♦-4♠-4♥ should just be folded. Only the King and Queen are connected, and the suitedness isn’t as good as in the previous example. This makes it a fold when facing two opponents. Even though this category scores weakly in nuttiness, the top 1% of midlow pairs can be squeezed. Limit yourself to the most connected doublesuited hands such as K♠-10♥-9♠-9♥, or double-suited hands with excellent blockers to 4-betting ranges, for example A♥-K♠-4♥-4♠.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) You might think that against a 3-bet, hands from this category would have to fold a lot because paired hands usually flop a rough equity distribution. That is certainly true but remember that to open-raise from the Cutoff with a midlow pair, you need additional backup in the form of good connectivity, suitedness, or both. For this reason, you can call with almost any hand opened (95%). Just fold some of the hands with bad suitedness that are directly dominated by the Small Blind 3-betting range, for example K♠-Q♠-9♠-9♣ or A♣-J♠-8♦-8♥. Against a Broadway-heavy and Aces-heavy 3-betting range, these hands are too often directly dominated, and they can only call when double-suited.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) Even playing OOP, you can call most of the mid-low pairs that you initially raised. Again, this is because of the additional components of the hand. When OOP, you do fold almost three times as much (14%) and call the rest. A critical factor to consider is the hands that comprise your opponent’s 3betting range and how those hands interact with your range. Let’s compare two hands to discuss this concept in more detail. K♠-J♠-9♥-9♦: This hand should fold. 7♦-7♥-5♣-4♣: This hand should call.

It might seem counterintuitive to fold the seemingly stronger hand and call the weaker one. The hand K♠-J♠-9♥-9♦ has a higher-ranked pair, higherranked side cards, better suitedness and the connectivity is very similar. However, if you think about the Cutoff 3-betting range versus MP, it starts to make much more sense. The Cutoff is mostly 3-betting with hands that include a lot of Broadway cards and high pairs, against which K♠-J♠-9♥-9♦ is very often directly dominated. On the other hand 7♦-7♥-5♣-4♣ is less often dominated, meaning it will be easier to realize the full equity of the hand and there is a smaller chance of losing a big pot.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) Facing a 4-bet from the Button, the Small Blind should fold about half of the mid-low pairs after 3-betting. Most 4-betting ranges are heavily skewed towards Aces, meaning that medium-strength pair hands are heavily dominated and are often better off folding preflop. The hands that should be calling are the most connected non-Broadway double-suited hands such as J♥-10♠-9♥-9♠ and 7♥-7♠-6♥-5♠.

Category Nine: Ragged Hands Introduction The final preflop category that we will discuss is a slightly weird one. It includes all the hands that weren’t included in any of the previous categories. You could say that the ragged category could also be called the “leftovers”. This category is the largest one, including a total of 103,885 hands. This means that you get dealt one of these hands about 38.37% of the time. Most of these hands have low raw equity and are folded in almost every situation. The hand with the highest EV in this category is A♠-A♣-A♦-10♠, which ranks in the top 4% of hands. The average rank of this category is 65.30%. Because this category is so diverse, it’s hard to explain the patterns and ideas which drive specific preflop action. For that reason, we will mainly consider specific hand examples in this final preflop category section.

RFI strategy Early Position Only about 3% of ragged hands should be raised from EP. This includes all trip Aces hands, and double-suited hands that are connected but not enough to be labeled “rundowns”, for example J♠-10♠-9♥-3♥, which has a dangler. This hand has decent connectivity and suitedness along with some high cards. For those reasons, this hand should be open-raised. Because of the 3♥ dangler, this hand doesn’t fit into any other category. The same holds for Q♥-10♥-9♠-6♠. This hand also doesn’t fit any other category because of the six. Nevertheless, this hand can be profitably openraised from EP. The third group of hands in the EP raising range are double-suited hands with two Broadway cards and two somewhat connected non-Broadway cards. Category six, which was made up of two Broadway cards plus two mediumlow connectors included similar combinations. However, that category included only hands with a maximum of one gap between the two mediumlow connectors.

Some of these hands with two, or even more gaps, can still be open-raised, for example A♥-J♥-8♠-5♠ and A♠-K♥-6♥-3♠. These hands have enough nuttiness and playability to be profitably open-raised from EP. Button The Button should open-raise about 27% and fold about 73% of all hands in this category. Most hands with at least some decent suitedness, connectivity, and high cards can be raised. ♦ A♥-J♦-9♣-6♥ is a good example that has the right combination of high cards, suitedness, and connectivity. ♦ Q♦-9♦-7♠-5♣ is an example of a hand that is still too weak to open-raise and should be folded. Compared to the previous hand, this hand has worse suitedness and fewer high cards. ♦ K♦-J♠-9♥-6♠ has decent connectivity and suitedness along with two Broadway cards. This hand is also very marginal but is slightly better than the previous hand and can therefore be raised. As an aside, if you raise from the Button and get 3-bet, A♥-J♦-9♣-6♥ is the type of hand you can call, while the weaker K♦-J♠-9♥-6♠ should be folded.

Facing a Single Raiser (MP Versus EP) 99% of the remaining hands fold from MP versus EP. The only hands that can profitably call are the best double-suited Ace high hands, such as A♥K♠-7♥-4♠. The 3-betting range consists mainly of trip Aces that are singlesuited, such as A♠-A♣-A♦-7♠. Pretty much all other hands are not strong enough to play and should be folded. Even a hand such as K♥-8♥-7♠-5♠ isn’t nutted enough to play versus an EP raise.

BB Versus One Player BB Versus EP Against an open-raise from EP, the Big Blind is supposed to fold almost 96% of hands in this category. The only hands that should be called are trip Aces and some of the hands that score very high in realizability, such as A♠-K♥7♦-4♠ and J♠-10♥-9♥-2♠. These hands have the right combination of high cards, good suitedness and connectivity to call profitably against an EP open-

raise. BB Versus Button Against the Button, the Big Blind should be calling with about 23% of hands, and the top 1% of hands can be 3-bet. K♥-9♠-6♠-4♥ is an example of a hand that is supposed to fold against a raise from EP, but can call against an openraise from the Button. Calling with this hand will likely still be -EV, but this is less unprofitable than folding and surrendering your whole big blind. The purpose of calling is, in the long term, to regain a portion of your blind from the pot.

BB Versus Two Opponents (Button and MP) This category doesn’t include many nutted hands, so you are only playing the top 6% of hands in this multiway scenario. Hands that should be called are mostly double-suited with strong connectivity or have an Ace and are somewhat connected. Two examples: ♦ J♥-10♠-9♥-2♠ is double-suited, has high card value and quite good connectivity. This hand has a lot of playability and the cards are medium-high. Therefore, this hand should be called. ♦ A♥-10♠-8♥-2♠ is more nutted and also has some connectivity and high cards. This hand has sufficient components to help to win a pot multiway and it should be called. But be careful! Don’t fall into the suited Ace trap. Just because a hand has a suited Ace, that doesn’t mean that you can automatically call from the Big Blind in a multiway pot. Just “getting a good price” while holding a suited Ace isn’t enough to call. You need additional components to justify a call.

Facing a 3-bet IP (Cutoff Versus SB) You are only opening the top 10% of hands from this category when in the Cutoff. So, most of the hands that open from the Cutoff can withstand a 3-bet when IP. Fold the worst of the worst hands, such as A♠-Q♠-Q♦-Q♥. This hand is blocking its own outs meaning the chance to flop a set is very low. The connectivity is also very bad because there are just two different ranks,

meaning there is only one possibility to make a straight (A-K-Q-J-10). The suitedness of this hand is quite good, which is why it should be opened in the first place, but it will not be able to call profitably heading into a 3-bet pot, even IP. Always 4-bet your trip A-A-A-x hands in this scenario. These hands benefit greatly from pushing their equity advantage and lowering the SPR as much as possible. Trip Aces lack playability and would always prefer to play as few streets as possible postflop.

Facing a 3-bet OOP (MP Versus Cutoff) As you hopefully now understand, playing OOP, the calling range against 3bets is usually narrower and the folding and 4-betting ranges are generally wider. This also holds true in this scenario. Playing OOP, 70% of the opening range should be called against a 3-bet. About 19% of hands should be folded, and about 11% should be 4-bet (mostly trip Aces). An example of a hand that calls IP but folds OOP is A♦J♦-9♥-5♣. The realizability of this hand isn’t amazing, but IP, it’s good enough to call. Playing OOP, this hand doesn’t realize its equity sufficiently against most 3-betting ranges, so it must fold.

Facing a 4-bet (SB Versus Button) After 3-betting and facing a Button 4-bet, the Small Blind should fold about 54% of hands. Only the best hands should be called or 5-bet. 5-bet your trip Aces that push a raw equity advantage, and call with hands such as 10♠-8♥-7♥-5♠ which are double-suited and somewhat connected. These hands flop very smooth equity distributions and are rarely directly dominated by 4-betting ranges. Therefore, calling and trying to push your opponent off his equity on favorable flops is the best option.

05

The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis Introduction to Postflop Strategy Congratulations! You have come so far in this book already and have made some serious progress towards mastering small stakes PLO. Now that you have studied the preflop material, you now have a solid fundamental base when it comes to preflop strategy. Hopefully you’ve internalized many of the preflop ranges so far because preflop strategy has a huge influence on postflop strategy. If you play the wrong ranges preflop, you will often find yourself in very tough postflop spots. That makes it very hard to be a winning player, even if you are very good postflop. For example, if your preflop Button calling range is too wide, you are going to have a fragile postflop range and you might have trouble being aggressive. If you 3-bet too much, you might find yourself dominated and losing your entire stack postflop way too often. But, by now you know how to play preflop and you should know the pitfalls that you must avoid. Now it’s time to take the next step and head into the second (and more exciting!) part of the book, covering postflop strategy. Postflop is where you can generate a considerable edge over your opponents. As the size of the game tree increases, the game becomes more complex, making mastering postflop play more complicated and leaving more room to create bigger edges. The scenarios are similar to No-Limit Hold’em where you won’t find

many players opening 6-4 offsuit from UTG. Even most of the recreational players somewhat know which hands to play preflop. However, when playing postflop, those same recreational players might make huge mistakes repetitively. That is where you can generate your most significant edge. So, let’s get started!

The Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis As a poker player, it is essential to develop a process for hand analysis. Players of all abilities struggle with the idea of how to properly analyze a hand. Most players discuss hands in a very unstructured manner that doesn’t create a constructive path towards decision making or improvement in general. We are going to start by going over what I call the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis, so you can start developing a clear way to review your own hands as well as discussing hands with other players. You will also need to understand these pillars fully to get the most out of the postflop section of this book. The four pillars are your tools that will help you to analyze situations much more effectively. Whenever you are discussing or analyzing a hand, think about the four pillars and about the critical factors that impact them. The four pillars are: ♦ Equity. This evaluates your chances of winning the pot at a given moment in the hand. We will also take equity realization into account. ♦ Polarization. This describes who has the equity edge on the top 30% of their distribution. ♦ Position. This defines which player is first and which player is last to act. ♦ Stack-to-pot Ratio (SPR). This describes how much money is in the pot relative to the stack sizes in play. All four pillars work together. The importance of individual pillars is always fluctuating and is dependent on the precise situation. Let’s dive a bit deeper into each of the pillars and how they relate to each other.

Pillar 1: Equity Equity is the chance you have to win at a certain point in the hand if there is no future betting. Unless you’re all in, there are future betting rounds on the turn and river. This means there is also a denial of equity, and equity realization. You will not always realize your full equity because sometimes you are folding against a bet, even though you have some equity. If one player doesn’t realize all his equity, it automatically means that the other player is over-realizing his equity. Equity is a driving force for the postflop strategy. It generally holds that the more equity you have, the more often you bet. Equity and the equity realization factor are the biggest drivers for postflop aggression in PLO. The stronger your hand is, and the more beneficial your runouts are, the more likely it is that you should be betting. Before betting on the flop, we should think about the implications of strengthening our opponents continuing range and increasing the size of the pot. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that you don’t want to bet hands that don’t play well in large turn/river spots or have marginal equity versus our opponent’s calling range. Making pots big and then folding on later streets is too costly and has no part in a winning PLO strategy.

Hand Examples For example, assume you 4-bet from the Cutoff versus a Button 3-bet. He calls and we go to the flop with an SPR of 1 and OOP. Let’s look at a couple of flops. Flop 1: 7♣-3♥-2♠ This is an excellent board for you. The equity that you have with your 4betting range is about 65%. You have a lot of Aces in your range and your opponent hardly ever has a two pair hand or better, given he 3-bet and called a 4-bet from the Button. On this board, you have a lot of

equity but are still fine taking down your opponent’s 35% equity. Your strategy on this flop is to go all-in with every single hand in your 4betting range. This is a board where you will over-realize your equity given your opponent will often forfeit his. Flop 2: J♠-10♠-9♣ This flop is much worse for the 4-bettor. You only have about 40% equity on this board with your entire range. On this flop, you are supposed to go all-in with only 20% of your 4-betting range and check the rest. You can see that there is a huge difference between both the equity and the c-bet frequencies between these two flops. Equity is in direct correlation with c-bet frequency. Truthfully, we are also considering SPR even in this simple example but start the habit of asking yourself how good your range equity is on each board.

Main Takeaways ♦ Equity represents the probability that you have to win the pot if every player in the hand would go all-in at that moment. ♦ Your range’s equity has a significant influence on your c-betting strategy. Generally, the more equity you have, the more often you should bet. The lower your equity, the less often you should bet.

Pillar 2: Polarization Polarization describes who has the equity edge on the best 10-30% of their distribution. Let’s imagine that you are in the Small Blind, and you are 3-betting against a Button raise. The Button calls and the flop comes 7♠-5♦-4♠. Both the 3bettor and the caller have many different hands in their range and the distribution of those ranges can be seen in the following graph (Diagram 18). The red line represents the Button’s range distribution and the gray line represents the Small Blind’s range distribution. Both lines in this graph consist of “dots” that represent all the player’s single hand combinations that make up their preflop range. These dots are plotted into lines which represent the average equity both players’ ranges have on this board. The combinations that are on the top left section of the graph are the best hands that either player can have in their preflop range. The bottom right represents the worst hands that either player can have.

Diagram 18: Button Raise-call (red) Versus Small Blind 3-bet (Gray) Flop Equity Distribution on 7♠-5♦-4♠ The red dot in the graph represents the hand A♠-Q♠-5♣-3♦ for the Button.

The Button raise-called this hand and has now hit a great flop with an inside straight draw as well as a pair and the nut flush draw. This hand has about 68% equity against the Small Blind’s 3-betting range. This scenario can be expressed as, “This hand is doing very well against the opponent’s preflop range.” This specific hand or dot is quite far to the left on the graph, meaning that only about 20% of the Button’s range has a higher average equity against the opponent’s range. Therefore, this hand is in the top 20% of hands that the Button can have. There are a few even better hands but most hands are performing worse on this board. Understanding these equity distributions will give you an understanding of how strong you are within your range. If you hear someone express the opinion, “I am at the top of my range” in PLO, this is what they are talking about. There are two ways to think about equities. In this situation, the Button (the red line) has 48% equity, and the Small Blind (the grey line) has 52% equity. The average equities of both ranges can be seen by looking at where each range’s line intersects the 50% value on the horizontal axis. The other way to think about equity is in terms of the equity distribution profile. If you consider the top left section of the graph, you can see that the red line is above the gray line. This means that in a 3-bet pot on this specific flop, the Button has very strong hands more often than the Small Blind. The strong hands that the Button has in their range are stronger than the strong hands that the Small Blind can have. This is because the Button can have more sets, two pairs, combo draws, combo made hands and draws and straights. The Small Blind 3-bettor won’t have as many of these hands in their preflop range. On 7♠-5♦-4♠ the 3-bettor will have overall weaker hands, such as: an overpair plus flush draw, an overpair and two pairs, an overpair with a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw, and fewer flopped straights. Those are usually the strongest hands that the 3bettor has and those hands are not as strong as the hands the Button can have. Therefore, the Button has an advantage here when it comes to equity distribution or polarization. On this board texture the Small Blind has an equity advantage (52% versus 48%). However, the Small Blind will rarely be betting the flop because, as we have already seen, the Button will have stronger hands in their equity distribution. You don’t want to build a pot versus a stronger range. It is not enough to think only about the equities and then to bet when you are an

equity favorite. When the distribution is against you, as it is here, then you must be much more careful with betting. The Button has the polarity advantage and the Small Blind should mostly check at an SPR of 4. If this were a 4-bet pot and the SPR stood at 1, then polarization would matter less and you would just pot it with most Aces on the flop hoping to deny the opponent their equity, as with the previously discussed 7-3-2 rainbow flop.

Main Takeaways ♦ Polarization describes who holds the equity advantage at the upper end of their distribution. ♦ If you have a polarity advantage, your c-bet frequency increases. If your opponent has a polarity advantage, your c-betting frequency decreases.

Pillar 3: Position Introduction If you are the last player to act postflop, then you are playing IP. Otherwise, you are OOP. If you are in a multiway pot, then there are also relative positions. You can be IP against one player but OOP against another player. In multiway pots, there is a big difference between facing a bet with a player behind you left to act and facing a bet and seeing what the other player does before you act.

Control Playing IP you have more control of the pot as you have the power to decide whether the next card is shown or if you want to put in the last bet. For example, if your opponent bets into you on the flop, you can call and force a turn card, or you can fold and there will be no turn card. You can also raise and decide to play a bigger pot. If your opponent checks to you, you can see a guaranteed free turn card or you can bet and re-open the betting. The additional options you have at your disposal when you are IP generate a higher EV for you. There is a direct positive correlation between your position and your EV. We call this positional advantage (or positional disadvantage if you are out of position). The deeper the stack sizes are, the bigger your positional (dis)advantage will be because when the stack sizes are very deep it is harder to get all the money in on the flop or the turn. Therefore, more streets will be played and this gives the IP player more options to maximize their positional advantage.

In Position In general, the IP player benefits from a multi-street game. Many boards in PLO are tough to handle for the OOP player because there can be a lot of texture shifts from flop to turn to river. That means the nuts can change very often. The OOP player has to react first to these changes without knowing what their opponent will do. For the IP player, playing multiple streets gives a

more significant advantage because they will get more opportunities to profit from this informational advantage, allowing them to make thinner value bets or effective bluffs. The IP player also tends to benefit from keeping the OOP player from ending the hand before the river by getting all the money into the pot. For those reasons, the IP player usually prefers smaller bet sizings than the OOP player. Betting small means that the OOP player is going to continue more often (with a weaker range) and at a higher SPR. This allows the IP player to leverage their positional advantage across multiple streets.

Out of Position The OOP player doesn’t have the option to force a free card and therefore has a less polarized strategy. The OOP player bets less often and generally opts for a bigger sizing. The OOP player is a lot less enthusiastic about playing three streets, especially on wet boards. Since they are at a significant disadvantage, they are more interested in ending the hand as fast as possible. Remember in the preflop section that you generally 4-bet wider facing a 3-bet when OOP compared to IP. In order to end the pot earlier postflop, the OOP player uses big bet sizings more often compared to the IP player. With bigger bets, the OOP player maximizes fold equity and lowers the SPR for future streets. Given the bigger bet sizing used, most medium strength hands are not bet when OOP, unless the SPR is low and consequently position matters less. In high SPR scenarios, you should bet less frequently OOP than IP. This means that when OOP, you will check more and therefore you need to protect your checking range by including more medium-strong and strong hands. The reason why you are checking more OOP is that you are often at a disadvantage. The disadvantage can be due to equity, polarization, position, SPR, or a combination of these factors. What you need to know is that when you do a lot of checking, you have to protect that range. If you don’t do a lot of checking it is not as important to balance that part of your range. The OOP player also has a special weapon which helps, this being the check-raise. Check-raising allows the OOP player to either end the hand at once or significantly lower the SPR for future streets. Check-raising against a non-polarized IP c-betting strategy is very effective because you start denying your opponent their pot equity. The IP player must consider the threat of the

check-raise when constructing a c-betting strategy.

Main Takeaways ♦ Position equals control. ♦ The IP player benefits from playing multiple streets at high SPR. ♦ The OOP player has to play a more polarized strategy, as they are at a positional disadvantage and therefore have to be very picky when choosing hands they want to build a big pot with. ♦ OOP, you do less betting than IP which means that you have to protect your checking range more.

Pillar 4: Stack to Pot Ratio (SPR) Introduction At the beginning of the book, we discussed the concept of the stack-to-pot ratio. In this chapter we go into more detail on how to use SPR to your advantage in order to make better postflop decisions. First of all, let’s repeat some important numbers. When the SPR is 1, such as if there is $100 in the pot, you have a stack of $100 and your opponent moves all-in, you are getting 2-to-1 pot odds on a call and need at least 33% equity to stack off. If the SPR is 0.5, you would be getting 3-to-1 on your money and need 25% equity to be able to stack off profitably. When the is SPR is 4, you need 44% equity to stack off, assuming you have no fold equity. These are the basic equity and stack-off calculations that are routinely used in 3-bet or 4-bet pots. Let’s examine this idea in more depth. When the SPR decreases, polarity and positional advantages or disadvantages have less of an impact on your postflop strategy. Imagine the SPR is 0.1 (an extreme situation), meaning you have a $10 stack and the pot is $100. In this scenario, it doesn’t matter which player has more top sets, straights, flushes, or other strong hands in their range. It also doesn’t matter who is playing IP or OOP. All that matters is if the players have enough equity to call given the pot odds. However, if instead you are playing a single-raised pot with an SPR of 15, then which player has a polarity and positional advantage matters a lot. If your range has more top sets and strong combo draws than your opponent, you will be able to leverage your advantage and gain more EV. Similarly, being IP has a greater impact when the SPR is higher because you can leverage your informational and strategic options across multiple streets. Let’s consider a theoretical example. You open from EP, the player in the Cutoff calls and all the other players fold. The flop is K♠-J♦-6♣. This is a very interesting board because the Cutoff caller will have a lot of Kings in their preflop range. Most Kings are calling and not 3-betting from the Cutoff versus an EP. The Cutoff will also have a tight enough calling range that is should interact strongly with the King and Jack in multiple ways.

Let’s assume the SPR is approximately 10, meaning you are playing with deep stacks and your positional disadvantage is considerable. Consequently, you should only be c-betting about 8% of the time when OOP. If we consider the same raising and calling ranges, but instead had an SPR of 4, then about 20% of your hands should be c-bet. The figure of 20% still might not seem very high but it is already 2.5x as much as with the SPR being at 10, as before. When the SPR is 2, you should c-bet 39% of the time and when the SPR is 1, you should c-bet 55%. See the graph below (Diagram 19).

Diagram 19 SPR Impact on EP’s Versus Cutoff C-betting Frequency on K♠-J♦-6♣ This demonstrates the importance of the SPR on your c-betting strategy. This change occurs due to the decrease in the positional and polarity disadvantages for the OOP player. Equity becomes the driving force for strategy at low SPRs. When you consider the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis: equity, polarity, position, and stack-to-pot ratio, you can see that SPR has a considerable

impact on all three other pillars. When the SPR is low, equity becomes more important. When the SPR gets higher, polarity and position become more important.

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Postflop Concepts C-betting Fundamentals Polarized Versus Merged In the same way that your preflop strategy and ranges start to shape your strategy on the flop, your flop strategy determines how your ranges are setup on later streets. Making serious mistakes early in the hand will have severe effects on your strategy on later streets. Let’s imagine you are on the Button versus the Big Blind in a single-raised pot. The flop is A♦-Q♣-5♠, the Big Blind checks and you check back. The turn brings (A♦-Q♣-5♠)-6♥ and your opponent pots into you. An appropriate turn continuing frequency for the Button would be to continue between 50% and 60% of the time, which is why you need to have a balanced and well-constructed check back strategy on the flop. If, like most small stakes players you don’t, then you will end up folding here more like 70-80% of the time. This makes it easy for the Big Blind to exploit you, as your check back range is unprotected. However, once you have reached the turn, you can’t suddenly readjust your flop strategy; the mistake has already been made. If you choose the wrong hands with which to bet or check on the flop, you will find yourself in trouble on many turns and rivers because you haven’t set up your ranges correctly. First, you have to understand what type of c-bet strategies are available and how to use them. There are actually two main c-betting strategies; polarized and merged. After reading the following material, you will know exactly how to combine both strategies effectively.

A Polarized C-betting Strategy Imagine that on the flop, you decide to bet all your strong hands, all your medium strength hands and check with your weak hands. Now pause and think about what this will signal to your opponents when you check. Exactly. It means that if you check, you have a weak hand. Your opponents will have an easy time exploiting you by putting a lot of pressure on your check-back range. If you play this strategy and check, your opponent can bet and take down the pot without any risk since your checking range includes only weak hands. If your check back range on the flop is weak, it means that you often can’t continue against a bet on the turn. This will give your opponents a good opportunity to bet as a bluff whenever you check back. To protect your check back range, you need to include hands in your checking range that can continue versus a turn bet. The balancing act here is to define which hands are good enough to check back while not giving up too much value with hands that prefer to bet. By playing a polarized c-betting strategy, you can accomplish this goal. You bet the strongest hands in your range, as checking them would sacrifice too much value, and you check-back medium strength hands to protect your check-back range. Polarized c-betting ranges are built around the highest equity made hands and draws and the hands with the best blockers and future blockers. You bet hands that are very strong and have potential to make the nuts on the turn or the river. You also bet hands that have very little equity but have some powerful blockers. This can be described as a very selective betting strategy. You are not betting just random hands, you are betting very selectively. This means that once you do c-bet the flop, you can barrel on multiple different turns and rivers. This makes it harder for your opponents to play against you because they know that they are going to have to invest a lot of money to get to showdown. By firing multiple barrels, you are maximizing the fold equity you have when you are bluffing, and you are also extracting as much value as possible in the cases where you are value betting. This strategy puts your opponents in very tough spots when they have bluff-catchers and medium strength hands. By using a polarized c-betting strategy, you protect your check back range. You are checking back with most medium strength hands, meaning you can call on a lot of different turn cards. Don’t worry if you are unfamiliar with the concept of blockers as we will cover this concept in the next chapter. Across

all possible boards, the overall c-bet frequency for a polarized strategy will be around 55% IP and 25% OOP.

A Merged C-betting Strategy A merged c-betting strategy means you are betting many more medium strength hands instead of checking them. Merged c-betting strategies are built around equity and more medium strength made hands and draws are bet. You care more about having decent equity rather than making the nuts. You bet hands that are not as nutted as when you use a polar betting strategy, which also means that you are not as aggressive in terms of betting with bluffs and blockers. By using a merged strategy, your check back range is weak and unprotected. All your decent hands go into your betting range and, therefore, it is much more challenging to have reasonable hands on turns when you do check back, leaving you open to exploitation on the turn. Your flop c-betting range doesn’t include as many hands that benefit from barreling across multiple streets. Many medium strength hands that you bet on the flop don’t have enough equity to bet the turn or river. Therefore you are often going to check back on the turn and river after your c-bet on the flop gets called. This means that it will be harder for you to make effective bluffs and thin value river bets. A further implication of c-betting with medium strength hands is that you are going to be more vulnerable against a check-raise. A lot of your medium strength hands won’t be able to continue against aggression and won’t want to play a big pot.

Conclusion Polarization is a concept used to describe the design of a range. Sometimes it is better to play a more polarized strategy and sometimes it is better to be more merged. When you are IP at a high SPR, you should lean more towards a polarized strategy. This will help you maximize your positional advantage because you can extract more chips with value hands and you can make more effective bluffs while keeping your checking range protected. When the SPR is lower, playing a more merged c-betting strategy makes more sense. In these situations, equity is more important. In some cases where you

have a substantial range equity advantage, you will want to bet your entire range. Using a merged c-betting strategy in these situations makes sense because you want to push hands that have an equity advantage and you want to play as few streets as possible with those hands, especially if you are OOP.

Main Takeaways ♦ In most situations you want to use a polarized c-betting range to maximize the fold equity that you have with your bluffs and to win as many chips as possible when you have a strong hand. ♦ Using a polarized strategy keeps your checking range protected. ♦ A merged c-betting strategy is more focused on equity. Medium strength hands are betting more often to push your equity advantage. ♦ At low SPRs, when equity drives the action, you often want to use a more merged c-betting strategy. ♦ You can massively exploit players who bet too many medium strength hands by attacking them aggressively if they check.

Protecting Your Checking Range Let’s say that you find yourself in a situation where you are checking with 50% of your range and betting with the other 50%. In this case you need to make sure that you protect your checking range by including some strong hands. If you don’t, players will know that whenever you check, you have a weak hand and they can start to bluff you very profitably in this situation. Whenever you are c-betting often, it means that you are checking with a very low frequency. This means you don’t have to worry much about keeping your checking range protected. If you are betting with a very high frequency, say 95%, you are checking so infrequently that you can’t be exploited. Even though your play is unbalanced and can leave your checking range vulnerable, the fact that this only occurs 5% of the time means that, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not very relevant. When your equity is low you should be c-betting much less frequently. Consequently, it is then important to include strong hands in your checking range. In a situation where you are betting less often you need to pay more attention to balancing the checking range. Think back to the J♠-10♠-9♣ flop, where you were supposed to bet only

20% of the time after 4-betting from the Cutoff versus the Button’s 3-bet. You will flop a reasonably good hand such as an overpair with a flush draw, a strong combo draw, the nut straight or a set, way more often than just 20% of the time. But you don’t want to just bet with all those strong hands because, on this board, you will also have a lot of hands that should be checking. You want to protect and balance your checking range. Therefore, you have to put in some of those strong hands into your checking range because your overall range is vulnerable. ♦ In every situation, you should think about how often you are checking and whether you need to keep your checking range protected. ♦ If you bet often, you automatically check less. If your checking range is very small, you don’t have to pay much attention to balancing it. ♦ If you start to check more, you should add some strong hands to your checking range to protect yourself from getting exploited.

Blockers and Bluffing Introduction Blockers and card removal are fundamental concepts in PLO. However, these concepts are much more subtle than many people realize and, in the following material, we are going to discuss these nuances and the influence of each of the cards that you are holding in postflop situations. Let’s start with the basics.

What are Blockers? A blocker is a card that “blocks” certain hands that your opponent could have. The most well-known example in PLO is the having the nut flush blocker. For example, if the flop is K♠-Q♠-6♠ and you are holding A♠-10♦10♣-9♥, then you are holding the nut flush blocker. Your opponent can’t have the nuts since you are blocking all the Ace-high flush combinations. A second type of blocker that frequently occurs is called the “future blocker”. Let’s say that the flop is A♦-5♦-3♥ and you are holding K♦K♠-6♠-6♣. In this situation, you are holding a future nut flush blocker with the K♦. Currently you are not blocking any made hands with this card but if a non-pairing diamond rolls off on the turn or on the river, then you are blocking your opponent from having the nuts. Also, if a 2, 4 or 7 rolls off you would be blocking some nut straights with your sixes. As we will see later, not all blockers are created equal. For example, the straight blockers are not as valuable because you will not actually have the 6-4 combo that often in many of your preflop ranges. The final type of blocker are “reverse blockers”. Reverse blockers describe card combinations that make it more likely your opponent is holding a certain hand or hit a specific board. For example, if the flop is A♠-K♠-Q♦ and you hold none of the pairs, no Jack or ten and no flush cards in your hand, it automatically becomes more likely that your opponent has one or more of those cards and that he has hit the board.

How to Think About Blockers

The right way to approach the concept of blockers is to assume that every card in your hand matters and is either a blocker, a future blocker, a reverse blocker or has removal effects. The challenge is to evaluate correctly the removal effect, based on the context of the situation. The value of the blockers you are holding differs for any given situation. Therefore, you should ask yourself questions such as, “how important is it to have a gutshot blocker in this spot?” or “how important is it to have the nut flush blocker in this situation?” In many instances, players misunderstand and oversimplify the concept and usage of blockers, leading to them bluffing with the wrong blockers in the wrong situations.

Bluffing When you choose to bluff, you should be following the same thought processes as when making other decisions. You are comparing the EV of different options and considering if bluffing is the highest EV play. For example, you are on the river in a heads-up pot and your opponent checks. You hold a hand that can’t win at showdown, so the EV of checking back would be zero. With some hands, you might be able to increase that EV if you decide to bluff and make your opponent fold some percent of the time. When it comes to bluffing you will see people make a wide variety of different mistakes. However, the most common one by far, is an emotional one. Bluffing, as with all poker decisions, is essentially a mathematical idea. You are risking X amount of money to win Y amount of money in the middle. To be profitable, your bluff must work a certain percentage of the time. That’s all there is to it. However, the problem is that the human brain does not perform well in understanding low-frequency events. For example, making a bet that must work 25% of the time to be +EV means that you can get called by a better hand 75% of the time and still break even. When you are losing, it always feels like as if you are making a mistake because you could have lost less by checking instead of bluffing. This feels bad and, much of the time, you might believe that you misplayed the situation. It is important to remember that is not necessarily the case. It is important to bluff and it’s important to understand that your bluffs can still be profitable, even if they lose more often than they win. The challenge is to bluff at the right frequency. It is easy to bluff too little

or too much. The immediate effect of not bluffing enough or bluffing too much is that you become unbalanced and, whenever you are unbalanced, your opponent can exploit you. Your opponents don’t have to be great players to exploit you. They might do so naturally. In the past, I have made some massive folds because I recognized that in the games in which I was playing, most players were generally under-bluffing the river. For that reason, I could allow myself to make some very exploitative adjustments and fold some very big hands. Your opponents may already be under-bluffing the river. By following the population tendency, which is also to bluff not often enough on the river, you are actually helping those players to exploit you. They are exploiting you naturally because their experience has told them that most players are under-bluffing, so they should be over-folding. If they don’t, they are going to lose too often. You can take advantage of that by bluffing more or, at least, by bluffing at the correct frequency, which is still way more than most players are.

Why Players Under-bluff The River Many players are not bluffing enough on the river and the reason why can be found in how the previous streets are played, specifically the flop. On the flop, you need to make sure your c-betting range includes enough hands that are very likely to be weak on the river or have good enough blockers that you can bluff at a balanced frequency. What you will very often see people doing is (incorrectly) betting too many marginal, or medium strength hands on the flop while also giving up too often with very weak hands. That creates an immediate lack of balance that will permeate the whole hand from the flop on to the turn and then the river. Consequently, players reach the river with a very value heavy range and they can no longer choose enough bluffs to obtain the right frequency. In order not to fall into this trap it is important to develop a much more methodological approach. When it comes to studying preflop, many players do indeed use a very methodological approach. They work with charts and other tools and have a precise understanding of what hands to be calling and 3-betting. However, once the play moves beyond the flop they find themselves on streets with

which they are less familiar and no longer have a clear structure for their play. Furthermore, as the complexity of the game increases, they often start playing emotionally instead of methodically. They are failing to understand the important concepts that apply to playing the river, and it’s tough to play the river well if you are messing up your flop strategy in the first place.

When to Bluff? There are three main factors to determine if you should turn your hand into a bluff. They are: 1) You Have No Showdown Value Many hands that can’t win at showdown should be turned into bluffs. This factor should not be used in isolation, as having no showdown is not all that matters. Very often when you have a hand that does have a lot of showdown value, you do not use it to bluff because the EV of checking is quite high. When you have no showdown value, it is more likely the EV of bluffing is higher than the EV of checking. If you have no showdown value or little showdown value compared to your opponent’s range, stop to ask yourself if you should bluff. 2) You are Blocking Your Opponent’s Continuing Range In this case, you should be bluffing more. Your opponent will have natural calls or continuing hands in their range that you block. When you block these hands, it makes it more likely that your bluff will get through. A simple example is having nut flush or straight blockers. Blocking your opponent’s calling range makes your hand a more effective bluff. If you don’t have a blocker, it makes it a less effective bluff because there is an increased chance that your opponent has one of those natural or easy calls. 3) You Unblock Your Opponent’s Folding Range This is where reverse blockers and removal effects come into play. If the board has a flush or straight draw that wasn’t completed, you often don’t want to bluff with missed flush draws. The reason is that one of the hands that your opponent could fold against a bluff is a missed draw, so if you are blocking those combinations, the chance that your opponent

folds is less. Having the missed draw yourself increases the likelihood that your opponent has a strong made hand that is not going to fold against your bluff. Hand Example 10 Let’s examine a couple of examples and consider the appropriate thought process when deciding whether to bluff or not. Assume you start at a standard 100bb stack size, you raised from the Button and get called by the Big Blind. The SPR on the flop is around 12. The flop is K♥-Q♦-4♥ and you are holding A♥-10♠-8♠-6♣ (Diagram 20).

Diagram 20 You bet the flop because you have no showdown value but have a nutstraight gutshot draw and future nut-flush blocker. The hand is not strong enough to check and there will be more EV in betting to maximize your fold equity and with the value of your blocker. Your opponent calls and the turn is the 7♥, making the board (K♥-Q♦-4♥)-7♥. Now, what do you do on this card? Let’s start by asking some important questions: ♦ Do you have showdown value?

♦ In this case, no. ♦ Do you block your opponent’s continuing range? ♦ Yes, you certainly do. You are blocking the nut-flush, which would of course continue against a bet. So, when you reach this turn without any showdown value while holding the nut flush blocker, you are going to bet. When you are betting on a threeflush board with a naked Ace, you are betting full pot because you are representing a polarized range. More on this later. Hand Example 11 Let’s examine a second example. In this instance the board after the turn is K♥-Q♦-4♥-7♥ and you are holding A♥-Q♠-7♠-6♣ (Diagram 21).

Diagram 21 You flopped middle pair, but didn’t have substantial equity or showdown value. As before, you are holding the nut flush draw blocker so you bet the flop. The turn is the 7♥, should you bet or not? Let’s go through the same questions again: ♦ Do you have showdown value?

♦ Now the answer is yes. You have two pair, so you beat hands such as J10-9 and K-J-10. ♦ Do you block your opponent’s continuing range? Are there hands with a lot of equity that your opponent could be holding that you could fold out by betting? ♦ In this example, these would be hands such as K-J-10, J-10-9 or A-J-10. These straight draws have a lot of our equity against your hand but, on this board, your opponent would likely be folding many straight draws since a flush is already possible. Because you can make hands with a lot of equity fold on this board, you should bet. You might be somewhat confused by this. Why are you betting this hand? Are you bluffing? Are you value betting? Well, the terms “bluffing” and “value betting” are very simplified, old school terms. The correct way to think about this is as follows: What is the EV of betting and what is the EV of checking? In this hand, there are several reasons why the EV of betting is high. The first reason, is that you will fold out hands that have a lot of equity, such as wraps or top pair hands. The second reason, is that your hand can still improve in case you do get called by a better hand. The third reason, is that you have a unique blocker that you can leverage by increasing the size of the pot on the river. On almost all the river cards, the A♥ is still going to be a valuable blocker to use as a bluff. Although we have discussed the concept of blockers mainly in the context of bluffing, they are also often used when you are bluff-catching or valuebetting. As discussed at the beginning of the chapter there are many different concepts when it comes to blockers, and all these will be discussed in the following postflop chapters.

Main Takeaways ♦ Every card matters and you must learn how to prioritize and understand this concept. It is about figuring out what the strength of your hand is based on all the removal effects. ♦ When you are thinking about betting, you should always consider the EV

of checking versus the EV of betting. The main factors that influence EV are: ♦ The amount of showdown value you have. ♦ The blockers that you are holding.

The Biggest C-betting Mistake Before we begin to discuss this important topic, I want to clarify that we are not talking about low SPR scenarios. We have already noted that those pots are driven primarily by equity. In those spots, the key metric is the stack-off math. We will discuss this topic later. So here, we will be discussing specifically single-raised (medium to high SPR) pots. In this situation, there is a typical c-betting mistake that players make consistently. It’s not only very common in small stakes games, it is also seen in online mid-stakes and high-stakes live games. The biggest c-betting mistake most players make has two components but in a way they complement each other: c-betting too many medium-strength hands and not bluffing enough on the flop. Bluffing has to start on the flop. If you want to have enough bluffs in your range on the turn and river, you will need to include some good bluffs in your flop c-betting range. If you’re not utilizing your blockers (and future blockers) enough on the flop, you will have very few bluffs in your turn or river betting range. Why is this such a big mistake? Because if you don’t have sufficient bluffs on the flop, your opponent can easily fold to your later street aggression. Why is this mistake so common? It is because most players are c-betting their medium-strength hands, probably because they think these need protection. Alternatively, they are overvaluing their hands and not considering future streets. Given that players are already betting too many medium-strength hands, they tend to have fewer bluffs in their range out of the fear of becoming overly-aggressive and thus exploitable. The truth is that a balanced game is naturally aggressive. It just involves being aggressive with the right hands. The way most people are aggressive leaves them open to exploitation. Their higher c-betting frequency (with many medium-strength hands) can be attacked by check-raising. Meanwhile, their checking range becomes extremely weak and is vulnerable to turn and river aggression. Their c-betting barreling range is usually too strong and is easy to fold against.

Their aggressive strategy might work against a very passive PLO player who doesn’t know how to attack or adjust but it will never hold up against any strong player who can spot these massive leaks and knows how to exploit them. If you are to become a strong PLO player, you must start bluffing on the flop. This is done with the understanding that your value hands will protect your betting range and maximize your EV with both subranges. You will continue with selective aggression on later streets. You will give up some bluffs, but continue with others, depending on the cards that come, the blockers you have and the ranges in play. You will not incentivize your opponents to check-raise light in an attempt to exploit you because you will be betting a combination of strong hands and bluffs. You will not be vulnerable to turn and river aggression after checking because you will have enough medium-strength hands to call, and even some strong hands with which you can raise. Your opponent will not simply be able to make hero folds against your turn and river bets because your bluffing ratio will be better balanced and they will be at risk of over-folding. The real lesson here is not to simply c-bet fewer medium-strength hands and bet more bluffs. It is to understand how you can become a stronger player by doing so. Also, how you can exploit and avoid being exploited by doing so. If you understand and implement this concept, you are way ahead of most PLO players. In small stakes games, many players will be making this two-pronged cbetting mistake. It’s up to you to determine who is and who isn’t and, if they are, to what degree. Maybe your opponent is extremely unbalanced, c-betting medium-strength hands and checking hands that should be bluffed. You can greatly exploit this player in numerous ways. Let’s suppose they are c-betting medium-strength hands but also bluffing on the flop. Here, you can greatly exploit their checking range and slightly widen your check-raising range. You also know they will likely start checking medium-strength hands on later streets. Given that your calling range is comparatively strong you can attack these with thin value bets and bluffs. No matter what their skill level is at PLO, almost all players still make big mistakes when it comes to c-betting. Understanding the core concepts behind c-betting in different scenarios is fundamental for any winning PLO strategy. Think back to your own c-betting strategy from previous play. What kind of

leak(s) does your game have and how can you fix them? Do you need to check more with medium-strength hands, bluff more on the flop, or both? First, you must create a solid plan and set up your ranges correctly for the turn and river. Once you understand when and which hands to c-bet, it becomes much easier to identify the leaks in your opponent’s c-betting strategy. Once you understand your opponent’s leaks, you can adjust your strategy to be even more profitable. A few caveats. Remember that many players, especially at small stakes games, are currently making this c-betting mistake. You can therefore apply the exploits discussed and increase your EV. However, you must be careful. These exploits can cost you if your opponent is actually playing a more balanced game of checking medium-strength hands and c-betting a polarized range. Don’t confuse low SPR gameplay with high SPR gameplay. If you spot someone using blockers effectively and checking mediumstrength hands, then adjust your game. Also, if you do face a particularly weak and passive player, betting medium-strength hands in position will cost you less. Passive players don’t punish you as much as stronger players. Your checking range will weaken and your c-betting range will become more fragile, but a passive player, by definition, will not check-raise light or adjust otherwise. Playing OOP you mostly will still want to focus on playing a polarized cbetting strategy, because even passive or weak players will be able to gain EV by having a positional and informational advantage. Checking mediumstrength hands OOP versus a passive player still works well. This is because you can value bet thinner against their weak checking ranges on later streets without much fear of being bluff-raised. Finally, and very importantly, a reminder that we are talking about averages and a baseline game strategy. This is how you should think, in general, about the game in medium to high SPR scenarios. In specific situations, you will see that you need to take more factors into account when making decisions. For example, your specific preflop ranges and the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis. Sometimes you will have such a range and polarity advantage that you will c-bet your entire range. Sometimes you won’t want to c-bet at all, even with your strongest hands, in order to protect the rest of your checking range. As we will now discuss, much of this depends on the board texture.

Board Texture The next important concept you must understand when it comes to postflop strategy is board texture. When you look at the board, you need to know how different board textures interact with the preflop ranges in play and how that is impacting your bet-sizing and your c-betting frequency. There are four basic main board textures: ♦ Unpaired: a board where there is no straight possible, no flush possible and there is no pair on the board. For example A♣-K♠-5♠. ♦ Paired boards: a board that features a pair. For example 7♦-7♣-9♠. ♦ Straight boards: a board on which a straight is possible. For example J♣10♣-9♥. ♦ Monotone boards: a board on which a flush is possible. For example A♠-10♠-3♠. These different board types have different bet size preferences. But it doesn’t mean that these sizings are set in stone and that you must follow them blindly. On some boards, using a different sizing can be totally fine and, depending on your opponent, can be better than using the theoretically best ones. However, if you don’t have a good reason to use a different sizing, you should use the standard ones. This will give you a solid base and keep you out of trouble. PLO is a big, complex game. There are many different board textures and, just as with preflop hand categories, there are many scenarios where it is necessary to analyze postflop strategy between specific preflop ranges. When advanced players study PLO, they break down board textures into dozens of different types and break down their strategy using subranges or “strength buckets”. However, at the end of the day, good, consistent play is all about recognizing strategy patterns. Apply what you have learned and use the best rationale to come up with the best decision you can. This is done by comparing decisions and using correct range composition for the hand you are currently playing. Then, away from the table, review your hands and learn more about the typical strategy patterns that arise. In the following chapters you will start internalizing your understanding of board texture and interaction with preflop ranges. You will do this by going

though many hand examples, and not by attempting to classify every possible board, which would be completely impractical. There will be a focus on the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis so that you can start to master Pot Limit Omaha postflop strategy.

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Postflop Theory: Single-raised Pots Flop C-bet IP Strategy (Button Versus BB) Introduction The postflop section will feature a mix of theory and hand examples. At the beginning of the chapters, we will discuss the concepts that drive the baseline strategy. We will then clarify the concepts by giving multiple hand examples. In this first chapter on postflop play, we are going to examine how to play single-raised pots in position as the preflop aggressor. Please note that all the hand examples are based on a situation where you are on the Button and your opponent is in the BB.

Sizing The following c-bet sizings are the standard ones that you should use when you are in a single-raised pot, playing IP, as the preflop aggressor (Diagram 22). The main factor that drives these different bet sizings is the board dynamic. On very static boards, your range needs less protection so you can use a smaller bet sizing. The term “static boards” refers to scenarios where the nuts don’t tend to change much on future streets.

Diagram 22 C-bet Sizings for Single-raised Pots On an unpaired board such as Q♠-J♠-6♥, there are many turns and rivers that can completely change the dynamic and the nuts of the board. On a paired board such as 9♥-9♣-3♣, there are fewer turn and river cards that will change the dynamic and the nuts. Therefore, you don’t need to bet as big because your range requires less protection. The suggested sizings are baseline sizings and you can use them every single time if you want. However, sometimes it can make sense to use a different sizing. For example, if either your opponent or you are playing with much deeper or shorter stacks. Another reason to adjust these sizings is from an exploitative perspective if you think that your hand is going to play a little bit better when you use a different sizing. So don’t feel obliged to just blindly follow these sizings, but they are a good starting point.

Expected Value (EV) When you are deciding whether to c-bet or to check, there is one main question that you should ask yourself, “Which option offers a higher EV, checking or betting?” The two main factors that increase the EV of a c-bet are: ♦ Your showdown value. If your hand has high equity and nuttiness, it is likely that you should be c-betting to increase the size of the pot. ♦ Blockers. If your hand has strong blockers or future blockers, you might also want to bet. This is because you have more fold equity either now or

on future streets. This will help you to generate turn and river bluffs. In many situations, checking will have a higher EV than betting. So, what are the factors that decrease the EV of a c-bet and increase the EV of a check? The following are important: ♦ Holding reverse blockers to your opponent’s continuing range. This makes it more likely that your opponent is going to continue and decreases your fold equity. ♦ Most medium-strength hands don’t benefit from betting because they have a hard time defending against a check-raise and are needed to protect your checking range. ♦ Hands without nuttiness don’t benefit from inflating the pot because they can easily be dominated and lose a big pot. ♦ A hand that is very turn-determined. These are hands that have some very good turns as well as some very bad turns. They benefit from seeing a free turn card.

Hand Examples on Flop J♠-10♦-6♦ Hand Example 12 You are on the Button with A♦-K♥-J♦-10♠ (Diagram 23).

Diagram 23 You are holding top two pair, the nut flush draw, and the nut gutshot. A hand with such high equity and nuttiness almost always requires a bet. Hand Example 13 You are on the Button with J♦-9♦-6♥-5♥ (Diagram 24).

Diagram 24 Hands with a top and bottom pair with no overcards and a medium flush draw should be checked because you have low nuttiness. When it is very difficult to make the nuts on any runout, you usually don’t benefit from building a massive pot. However, you can utilize these hands to protect your checking range as these hands can pretty much call any turn. Although you would be able to call a flop check-raise, realizing your equity on the turn and the river will be very hard, especially at high SPRs. These hands cannot apply a lot of pressure on subsequent streets. So, you don’t have a hand that wants to build a pot on many turn cards and your check back range can easily be protected by checking back this hand. Hand Example 14

You are on the Button with K♦-K♠-3♠-2♥ (Diagram 25).

Diagram 25 At first glance, a hand such as this looks like a bare weak overpair. However, you also have a backdoor flush draw, a relevant flush draw blocker and straight blockers. This kind of hand is a good one to c-bet because you will be able to use your key cards to barrel-bluff. If you get check-raised, you can easily fold without losing much equity. Furthermore, this hand doesn’t gain much from checking back because there are not many turn cards that improve its showdown value. Therefore, the way to maximize EV is to bet the flop and hope for a fold or that you turn a blocker or improve your equity. Hand Example 15 You are on the Button with A♠-K♦-K♠-5♣ (Diagram 26). This is a similar pocket Kings hand but this is one you should check. You are holding average equity and this hand will be more defined by the turn card. You have some nutted outs on the turn and you don’t want to get pushed off this equity by a flop check-raise. With guaranteed nut outs, multiple beneficial runouts (turn-determined) and a bigger EV loss when check-raised, you should check this hand and plan to continue on many good turns.

Diagram 26

Hand Examples on Flop A♠-K♦-10♠ Hand Example 16 You are on the Button with Q♠-Q♣-2♥-2♦ (Diagram 27).

Diagram 27 This bare Queens hand doesn’t have much showdown value or any additional draws, so it has very low equity. However, you do have excellent flush draw and straight blockers. You can use this hand to barrel on blanks to represent the Q-J straight, or to barrel on spades, representing a flush. Therefore, you should c-bet with this hand. If you get check-raised, you can fold without giving up much equity. Hand Example 17 You are on the Button with K♥-Q♥-7♠-6♠ (Diagram 28).

Diagram 28 With a weak middle pair hand, a gutshot and weak flush draw, this is a tougher decision. You have medium equity and low nuttiness, so you don’t benefit from increasing the size of the pot or getting blown off the hand. If you bet, you will not make a better hand (or a hand with significant equity) fold. With a small amount of showdown value, you could check this hand. It also serves to protect your check back range slightly as you will be able to call a turn stab.

Main Takeaways ♦ The board structure hugely influences your betting frequency and your sizing. There are four main flop types, and you can use the following sizes as a baseline bet sizing strategy when in position: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Unpaired boards - 75% Straight boards - 50% Monotone boards - 50% Paired boards - 33%

♦ The main driver of these different bet sizings is how often the nuts change on subsequent streets. On static or dry flops such as monotone or paired boards, your range requires less protection, so you can bet smaller. On dynamic or wet boards, the nuts change often, so your range needs more protection, and you bet bigger. ♦ Keep in mind that these sizings are not set in stone; they are just guidelines. Some flops within each category are more static or dynamic than others. For example, A♠-Q♥-7♣ compared to Q♣-J♣-7♥, or 10♠-9♠-9♥ compared to 9♠-9♥-2♣. If you feel that deviating from the standard sizings increases your EV in certain situations, then you should do so. ♦ When deciding whether to bet or check, ask yourself, “Which action has better EV, checking or betting?” ♦ Hands with high nuttiness and equity or hands with strong (future) blockers should usually be bet. ♦ Medium-strength hands, hands without nuttiness, or turn-determined hands, should usually be checked. ♦ Overall your c-betting frequency IP when using a polarized c-betting strategy should be around 55%. You c-bet more on some boards than others but keep in mind checking a good portion of hands is an important part of protecting your check back range and maximizing the EV of many medium-strength hands. Checking back should not equal giving up, but managing the size of the pot to your advantage.

Flop C-bet OOP Strategy (Cutoff Versus Button) Introduction In this chapter, we will be examining the play in single-raised pots, playing OOP, as the preflop aggressor. We will be comparing OOP strategies to those discussed in the previous chapter (flop c-betting when playing IP) by analyzing some of the same boards. This will help you to understand how having positional advantage (or disadvantage) impacts on your play. In the following examples, assume that you raised from the Cutoff and were called by the Button with both blinds folding. So, you are now playing OOP with a high SPR.

Sizing The standard bet-sizings you should use OOP are the same ones as IP. Again, the bet-sizings are guidelines and don’t depend on the position you are in. They mainly depend on the structure of the board (Diagram 29).

Diagram 29 C-bet Sizings for Single-raised Pots

C-bet Frequency

Let’s look at four different boards and see how often you should be c-betting on these boards when OOP. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

On K♠-6♦-5♠, the c-bet frequency is 7.5%. On 10♠-8♦-8♣, the c-bet frequency is 11%. On 8♠-7♦-6♣, the c-bet frequency is 15%. On 9♠-8♠-2♠, the c-bet frequency is 12.5%.

The first thing that might strike you is how infrequently the OOP player is c-betting. Let’s recap the reasons for this. Single-raised heads-up pots with high SPRs maximize the positional disadvantage of the OOP player. You usually won’t have a significant equity or a polarity advantage, meaning the equity and polarity between the Cutoff and the Button preflop ranges run very close on most boards. Many players overestimate how much of an equity advantage they have when playing an “uncapped preflop range”. They tend to think, “Well, given that the Button didn’t 3-bet, I must have an equity advantage.” On many boards, you are running into a 50/50 split when it comes to equities and even the polarity distribution is often approximately even. The OOP player therefore ends up checking a lot because of the positional disadvantage both now and on future streets. It is only when the preflop range of the OOP player is a lot stronger than the caller’s range and the board texture is very favorable, that the OOP player starts to c-bet at a relatively high frequency. An example would be an Acehigh board when you raise from EP and the Button calls. On this board, the OOP player has a bigger polarity advantage because they have a lot of top set combinations, whereas the Button has almost none. A further reason why you check OOP is that you are also incentivized to play many of your very strong hands as a check-raise rather than a c-bet. As in many preflop spots, you want to lower the SPR and play a two-street game instead of a three-street game when possible. Another question you might ask when considering flop c-bet frequencies is, “Can’t we just simplify our strategy and check our full range?” Although you should check most hands, by checking your full range you would be leaving a lot of money on the table. You still have specific hands with key

blockers which should be c-bet because the expectation of betting is much higher when compared to checking. Once again, it is all about understanding principles. On some boards, the bet frequencies are very low. For example, on 10♠-8♦-8♣, you are c-betting only 11%. However, within this range, there are some hands that are c-betting at a very high frequency and you should learn these patterns so you can identify when you should go ahead and c-bet.

Analysis In this section we are going to work with strength buckets. Strength buckets are categories or groups of hands that have similar strength or blockers. For example, top set is a common bucket to investigate. We group hands into buckets to compare them to different buckets. We can then breakdown and analyze betting patterns and validate our hypotheses about how the game works. Let’s consider the first flop K♠-6♦-5♠. As mentioned before, you have a very low c-betting frequency on this flop. This means most strength buckets are starting with a check with the intention of moving to either a check-call line or a check-raising line, depending on their equity and future street playability.

Top Set on K♠-6♦-5♠ With a set of Kings, you are c-betting 10% of the time and checking the rest. When you check, you check-call about 40% and check-raise 60%. Considering that you are holding the nuts, the check-raising frequency is relatively low. That’s because the board is still very draw heavy and that typically increases the OOP player’s disadvantage because there are more potential texture shifts that can occur. Therefore, it will be more profitable for you to sometimes play with a check-call rather than a check-raise. Let’s look at some specific examples: Hand Example 18 You are in the Cutoff with A♠-9♠-K♥-K♦ (Diagram 30).

Diagram 30 With the nut flush draw and a strong made hand, you have all the incentive you need to inflate the pot as much as possible. The challenge is figuring out what the best course of action is to achieve this. Preferably, you would like to get in a check-raise. However, you must consider how likely you are to face a bet from the IP player and how often they will be able to continue after such aggression? As you are blocking the strongest hands and draws, you are removing your opponent’s most likely c-betting and continuing hands. Therefore, you are better off by c-betting. Hand Example 19 You are in the Cutoff with K♥-K♣-J♠-10♠ (Diagram 31).

Diagram 31 Here you don’t block the nut flush draw or any straightening cards, so your opponent is more likely to wake up with a hand such as a wrap or a nut flush draw which would most likely get bet. With a hand such as this, you should go for a check-raise. Hand Example 20 You are in the Cutoff with K♦-K♣-10♦-9♥ (Diagram 32).

Diagram 32

This hand has less playability but you still have a backdoor flush draw and backdoor straight opportunities. Also, you are unblocking spade draws that can call a bet. This hand can be played either by betting or check-raising. Hand Example 21 You are in the Cutoff with K♣-K♥-2♣-2♥ (Diagram 33).

Diagram 33 This hand is going to fare much worse when facing a call on the flop and playing at high SPR on the turn and the river. Unlike the previous hand, you have no flush draw or straight draw possibility. You are also not blocking any draws your opponent could bet on the flop. Therefore, this hand is more suitable to play for a check-raise. You are better off by getting the money in on the flop or by reducing the SPR significantly or getting your opponent to fold their equity. Hand Example 22 You are in the Cutoff with A♥-K♣-K♦-6♠ (Diagram 34).

Diagram 34 Here, you have top set but very poor backup. You are not holding a backdoor flush draw or straight draw or a future flush blocker. Also, you are blocking your own full house outs. This hand has the least amount of equity when you are check-raising compared to other combinations. Also, it doesn’t have great playability. Therefore, this hand should go into the check-calling range. Hand Example 23 You are in the Cutoff with K♦-K♣-4♦-3♣ (Diagram 35). Here you have top set, an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. At the same time, you are not blocking 7-8-9 and you are not blocking spades. Given the decent turn playability and unblocking of your opponent’s flop range, this is a good candidate to play for a check-raise.

Diagram 35 When holding a very strong hand such as top set you will often be aiming for a check-raise. However, always consider your opponent’s aggression level and how often they are actually going to bet the flop. Some players are not stabbing as aggressively as GTO would suggest when checked to on the flop without being the preflop aggressor. If this is the case, then you want to shift some hands into a c-betting strategy because you are unlikely to get the check-raise in. However, the principles discussed are still important. You want to think about playability, removal cards, and the likelihood that your opponent has a strong hand that wants to stab thus increasing the probability that you can get in a check-raise successfully.

Straight Draw With a Flush Draw on K♠-6♦-5♠ This bucket includes mainly combo draws that don’t have any showdown value on the flop. The most relevant questions that you should be asking yourself here are: ♦ Is my hand strong enough to check-raise? ♦ How much equity am I pushing? ♦ How much playability do I have? The overall c-bet frequency with this strength bucket is again very low,

about 15%. You are check-calling around 75% and check-raising about 20%. Hand Example 24 You are in the Cutoff with A♥-J♠-4♥-3♠ (Diagram 36).

Diagram 36 You are holding the low end of the open-ended straight draw and a Jackhigh flush draw. This hand can be classified as a medium-strength hand and is not strong enough to check-raise. You don’t want to bet because the hand doesn’t have much nuttiness and does not play that well when facing a raise on the flop. Building the pot at this point is not a good outcome, so you want to check-call. Hand Example 25 You are in the Cutoff with 7♦-5♦-4♠-3♠ (Diagram 37). In this scenario, you have bottom pair, a non-nut wrap, a weak flush draw and a backdoor flush draw. This type of hand is generally quite awkward to play when you are betting. This hand doesn’t have many nutted runouts and at a high SPR, that will put you in many difficult bluff-catching situations on the river. That said, you do have a lot of equity against most holdings. You can check, planning to check-raise, to gain fold equity or lower the SPR so that your turn and river decisions become easier. You also gain coverage by hitting low cards after check-raising.

Diagram 37 Hand Example 26 You are in the Cutoff with Q♠-J♦-8♠-7♦ (Diagram 38).

Diagram 38 This is an interesting hand because you are holding the Queen-high flush draw, an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. This hand has a lot of playability but currently has no showdown value. Because of the high playability, this hand can call a flop raise but it’s not strong enough to checkraise because it doesn’t do as well when up against a hand such as top set or

the nut flush draw. The hand is strong enough to c-bet and try to take down the pot but not strong enough to check-raise and risk running into the top of your opponent’s range. As you can see, these hands are quite different but the main questions to ask are always: ♦ Is your hand strong enough to go for the check-raise? ♦ How much playability do you have when you bet? ♦ Do you have a lot of playability on the turn?

Aces with the A♠ (NFD Blocker) on K♠-6♦-5♠ Hands in this category have the nut flush draw (NFD) blocker as well as showdown value in the form of pocket Aces. The two most relevant questions for this situation are: ♦ Is your hand strong enough to check-call? ♦ Should you bet? ♦ How many blockers do you have? For the most part, you can check-call with hands in this strength bucket. You have showdown value, you beat straight draws and you beat some top pair hands. You also have a powerful future nut flush blocker that will help you win the pot in case a spade rolls off and you decide to turn your hand into a bluff. Hand Example 27 You are in the Cutoff with A♠-A♦-8♦-7♦ (Diagram 39). This hand is not strong enough to get all the money in against a hand such as top set. There are however a lot of hands that your opponent will use to call that you are dominating. Hands such as straight draws, flush draws and K-x are all hands that your opponent will usually call with that you have good equity against. You can often win against these hands by either holding the best hand at showdown or by utilizing your nut flush draw blocker. This hand is not strong enough to check-raise because you aren’t blocking a King, meaning that if you get all the money in we are often up against top set and will be far behind in equity. However, your hand is good enough here, specifically with the backdoor flush draw, to go for a bet and build a pot.

Diagram 39 Hand Example 28 You are in the Cutoff with A♠-A♦-Q♦-J♣ (Diagram 40).

Diagram 40 With this hand you are not holding any relevant blockers and you don’t have a strong made hand, so check-raising isn’t a good option. Betting is also not too profitable because you don’t want to get raised and then lose your backdoor flush draw equity, your two outs to a set and the potential to bluff your opponent if a spade arrives. Therefore you are just going to check-call.

Conclusion Once again, here is an overview of your c-bet frequency OOP on four different boards (Diagram 41).

Diagram 41 It is important to realize that correct play is all about asking the right questions and not necessarily about remembering how to play all individual combinations. It’s more about understanding whether certain types of hands, based on the structure and based on the removal effect, are most likely to lean towards c-betting, check-calling, or checkraising. It’s about learning the principles that drive those actions because those are universally markers across many different board textures.

Main Takeaways ♦ The OOP player is supposed to bet very infrequently due to: ♦ Positional disadvantage. ♦ A high SPR incentivizes you to be more cautious OOP. ♦ The equities and the polarity run very close. ♦ Playing OOP, you use the same standard bet sizes as IP. These bet sizings are mainly driven by the board structure. The wetter and more

dynamic the board, the bigger the bet-sizing you use. ♦ When considering what action to take, think about the following: ♦ How likely are you to face a bet from the IP player? ♦ How much playability does your hand have? ♦ What blockers are you holding?

Single-raised Pots IP Turn Strategy Introduction In this section, we will be discussing turn strategy playing IP in single-raised pots after c-betting the flop and getting called. This means we are going to consider when to double barrel and when to check back. The first principle to understand is that your preflop and flop ranges heavily influence your turn ranges. If your flop range composition is suboptimal, then you will inevitably encounter problems when trying to maintain the right balance of value-bets and bluffs on the turn and river. For that reason, it is essential to first master your preflop ranges. Next you should be working on your flop ranges. Make sure you understand the principles that apply on the flop and know why you want to include certain hands into your betting or checking range because, at the end of the day, that is going to influence your entire game plan dramatically. So, having dealt with preflop and flop strategy, we are now ready to discuss turn strategy. In this chapter, we will first consider some general principles for how to construct a balanced turn strategy and then will dissect different turn transitions. This will help develop an intuitive feeling for what kind of hands fit best into what type of range. Please note that all the hands in this section will consider play from a Button versus Big Blind situation.

Turn Transitions We are going to discuss the previously used K♠-6♦-5♠ flop and consider possible transitions on the turn. First, we need to define four different types of turn transitions that can take place because different turns require a different strategy when it comes to both your bet frequency and bet-sizing. ♦ A flush card. A third suited card is dealt, making a flush possible. ♦ Heavy blanks. This means Broadway cards. ♦ Straight completing cards. In the example above (K-6-5) this would be a 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 or a 9. ♦ Pairing cards. In this case a K, 6, or 5.

The average c-bet frequency for all possible turns after the K♠-6♦-5♠ flop is about 44%. That might be surprising because many players favor a bet-bet strategy. This means that they are double barreling with a very high frequency once they do go ahead and c-bet the flop. The issue with that strategy is that when you do check back on the turn, you are going to end up folding a lot of rivers because there aren’t many hands in your turn checking range that are willing to bluff-catch on the river. Most players play too defensively and they are going to favor double-barreling for thin value on the turn more than checking back on the turn in order to call the river. That approach can lead to some obvious problems, the main one being that a lot of players arrive on the river in a massive pot with far too many weak hands with which they can’t call river bets.

Bet-sizing Betting the flop does not always mean that you are polarized. The bet can imply a wide range of hands, including a few bluffs, some value hands and even some medium-strength hands. However, on the turn, things change – mainly because a lot of draws now have less equity as there is only one card left to peel. Furthermore, your opponent has already demonstrated that they have a hand that has some value. At the same time, your opponent didn’t raise on the flop, meaning they are representing a capped range of value hands. If you double-barrel by betting the turn, you are representing a hand that can beat this capped range and that means that you start using larger sizings, so you will often pot the turn. Potting or betting half-pot is much more feasible than betting something like 75% of the pot. The 75%-pot bet is not going to do much for you on the turn. You might use half-pot because the board is quite static but, in general, a lot of turn strategies should include potsize bets. By betting you are saying to your opponent, “You have something because you called the flop but I am even stronger, and I am so strong that I am going to bet pot.” That is the point of a polarized strategy against capped ranges. A 75%-pot sized bet doesn’t polarize your range as much as using the full pot sizing, so it should seldom be used. Note that in the following examples we are assuming a 75%-pot bet on the flop (5.6bb) that has been called.

Turn Strategy on a Heavy Blank Let’s say that the turn is A♣, a heavy blank. The board now is (K♠-6♦-5♠)A♣. This turn card is favorable for you as the IP player because you will often still have the best hand when you had a strong hand on the flop, for example two pairs or a set. You can also turn some powerful hands that your opponent doesn’t have as much of on this turn card – for example, the nut flush draw, A-K, or A-A. Your opponent is often either 3-betting those hands preflop or check-raising the flop with some of those combinations, making it unlikely that those hands are still in their range on the turn. Now we are going to examine some strength buckets that are not the most straightforward holdings to play. For example, sets on this board are very straightforward; you should always be betting. You can play around with the sizing, but the bet frequency isn’t too interesting. This is not the case with more nuanced holdings. Top Pair Without a Flush Draw A more complex strength bucket is top pair without a flush draw. Apart from the sets, this is the strength bucket with which you will double-barrel the most frequently, even though you only have one pair. When you consider your flop strategy, it is reasonable to assume that you are holding a top pair that has some additional blocker or equity. Otherwise, you would not have bet the flop. Hand Example 29 For example with A♠-Q♦-8♦-7♥, you would have bet the K♠-6♦-5♠ flop because of the open-ended straight draw, backdoor flush draw and, most importantly, the A♠ (Diagram 42). Now you are going to use this hand to double barrel on the turn. That might seem a little counterintuitive, but you are going to use a somewhat merged strategy. This is because you have good blockers that have additional equity which can potentially make your opponent fold a hand such as a spade combination and encourage them to call with a combination that is weaker and behind. When you are holding this specific hand, you are very infrequently going to get raised on the turn as you block A-K and also the nut flush draw with top pair.

Diagram 42 Hand Example 30 Another example is A♥-7♥-7♦-2♦ (Diagram 43).

Diagram 43

Here you bet because you are benefiting when your opponent folds hands such as weak flush draws or pairs with some outs. You are also protecting yourself from getting bluffed on the river. Notice that A♥-7♥-7♦-2♦ doesn’t have a great gameplan when you check back the turn and subsequently face a river stab. This hand isn’t suitable to bluff-catch on any rivers and, therefore, you are better off with the double barrel. A-x-x-x is one of your best double barreling hands because you are blocking your opponent’s turn check-raising range. So A♥-7♥-7♦-2♦ will be used as a double-barrel, and you will also have some potential to make a triple barrel bluff with the straight blockers. Hand Example 31 Finally, A♦-Q♦-3♠-3♥ is also a hand with which you should choose to bet the flop as it has very little EV after a flop check (Diagram 44).

Diagram 44 On the turn, you have a pretty good blocker and, again, this hand doesn’t have a great gameplan after checking back on the turn because you are not going to be able to bluff-catch on many rivers. Therefore, you are going to double-barrel and try to make your opponent fold their equity and also avoid their potential river bluffs that most likely will be successful because you can’t hero call much on the river.

Two Pair With a Flush Draw In this bucket, you hold many strong hands but you don’t want to bet all those hands for two reasons. Firstly, you might get check-raised and that would be uncomfortable because you are usually going to be far behind in terms of “made hand value”, but you also have a flush draw. In general, you don’t have much equity with a flush draw if you run into, for example, a set that goes for a (delayed) turn check-raise or a hand such as A-K. Secondly, you also have a hand that is unlikely to make your opponent fold because you are already blocking flush draws and, therefore, it’s more likely that your opponent is holding a good bluff-catcher. Hand Example 32 The hand K♥-10♠-7♠-6♥ has a ton of fold equity on the turn when you think about the hands with which your opponent might continue (Diagram 45).

Diagram 45 There are just not many of them that are weaker at this point and he is going to be folding a lot of pair and flush draw type hands. So this is an excellent candidate to check back and not inflate the pot in case you are behind or face a check-raise. You can easily bluff-catch a ton of rivers with K♥-10♠-7♠-6♥ and, therefore, you should place this hand into your “check

back turn, call the river” range. Of course, you are not going to call every single river, but you will be calling often.

Top Pair With or Without a Flush Draw If you are holding a hand such as bottom two pair and a flush draw or K-5 with a weak flush draw on the K♠-6♦-5♠-A♣ board, you should intuitively understand that a lot of your hands will be suitable for a check back turn, call the river line, instead of going for a pot-size turn bet. Let’s consider some examples: Hand Example 33 You are on the Button with A♠-8♣-8♠-4♠ (Diagram 46).

Diagram 46 This is a hand that is not pushing that much equity by double barreling the turn. You are blocking the draws that are behind, so your opponent is often going to be holding a better made hand. You could also sometimes face a check-raise on the turn from K-K, or A-K. However, you are holding a good hand to take a free card and see how things develop on the river. Hand Example 34

You are on the Button with A♠-J♥-J♠-2♠ (Diagram 47). This hand was betting the flop because with three spades there is not as much EV to be gained by checking back and this hand also has low realizability in terms of bluff-catching. On the turn, you are not going to double-barrel. You are not blocking as many of the hands that are still ahead of you and you can bluff catch some of the rivers very efficiently.

Diagram 47 Hand Example 35 You are on the Button with K♦-J♦-10♥-6♥ (Diagram 48).

Diagram 48 You are holding a naked two pair that has some good potential on the flop with the backdoor flush draw. However, on the A♣ you should check back and bluff-catch on certain river cards. Exploitative Tip When you are up against a very passive player, feel free to double-barrel some of these hands. You could also choose a less polarized game plan and go for a smaller sizing. This encourages your passive, “callingstation” type opponents to call a small bet instead of you going for the bluff-catch option. Much of the value that comes from checking back these types of hands is generated by your opponent taking a stab on the river. Not all your opponents will be bluffing the river aggressively and, if that is the case, you are sometimes better off double barreling with some of these hands. It probably makes sense to simplify your strategy by only betting 66%-pot with a more merged type of range when facing passive opponents.

Draws Without Showdown Value This bucket includes a lot of weak hands, for example, open-ended straight draws without showdown value and any flush draws. Most of those hands are

going to check. But we are also going to bet some of the hands, and we want to think about future blockers. We want to think about how valuable turn cards are, or if we can call a check-raise. The same story holds true for flush draws with no showdown value. Generally, when you have decent equity as well as nutted outs, you don’t want to bet when you can’t call a check-raise. Otherwise, you are guaranteed to be leaving equity on the table. Finally we have gutters and air. Here you can be a little more aggressive with certain hands because you don’t lose much by folding after getting check-raised as you are not folding much equity. Hand Example 36 An example of a hand that you can use to double-barrel is 9♦-8♣-7♦-6♣ (Diagram 49). This is a prime example because you have a pair blocker which is going to minimize the times that you will be called or check-raised on the turn, for example by 6-6. You also have nutted outs and even a hand that can potentially call a check-raise because you still have a wrap. At the same time, you have very little showdown value. If you can make a hand such as K-x-x-x fold on the turn or even on the river then you benefit greatly.

Diagram 49

Hand Example 37 Another example is 5♥-4♠-3♠-2♥ (Diagram 50).

Diagram 50 This is a hand with very little showdown value that can call a check-raise on the turn. So here, you are not going to let your opponent push you off a lot of equity, even if they do go for the check-raise. Usually, with these types of combo draws, what is quite essential is to have a pair blocker. Having such a blocker decreases the chance that your opponent is holding two pair or a set. Therefore, your fold equity is increased and the chance of getting raised is decreased. Hand Example 38 Finally, let’s consider the hand Q♦-10♣-7♣-6♦ (Diagram 51).

Diagram 51 You have a pair blocker, a gutshot and also a pretty reasonable hand to bluff some of the rivers that we brick. This is because we have absolutely no spades, meaning our opponent could easily be holding a flush draw that we can get to fold. On the other hand, there might be some valuable rivers where you can check back, you can hit trips, you can hit two pair or a straight. In that case, you are going to bet, unless the card in question is a spade. This is also a decent candidate to go for a double barrel.

Turn Strategy on K♠-6♦-5♠-9♣ Introduction Now we are going to consider another turn card, the 9♣. This card introduces a possible straight with 7-8. Although the straight is now possible, a lot of straight draws are still out there and now new straight draws (Q-10, J-10, QJ) have been introduced. A lot of combo draws still have equity against the current nuts. With a straight on the board, you should try to get maximum value from all the draws that your opponent could be holding. Therefore you should bet, preferably using a pot-size. With a set, you are betting much more selectively. You are trying to reduce the chance of getting check-raised by

holding straight blockers or being able to make calls that are more profitable when check-raised because you hold an additional flush draw or straight draw. If you have a bare set without any backup you are usually going to check. This is in an attempt to pot control because you don’t have many great rivers to value bet and, of course, you don’t want to get check-raised. Two pair here is going to be a bluff-catcher and you will check it back, trying to get to showdown. The same holds true for your top pairs and overpairs. The only times you are betting those hands is when you have significant additional equity in the form of a straight draw with a flush draw. When you have a flush draw without showdown value, you are trying to bet hands that don’t have to bet-fold. So you are looking to add some straight draws into the mix to then be able to call when you get check-raised. When you have just a flush draw, you have some outs but not enough to call a check-raise, so you are usually better off taking the free card. When you have a bare straight draw without a flush draw or a significant pair, you are selectively betting. You should think a lot about immediate blockers and future blockers so that you have a profitable double-barrel turn and can then also bet the river. Finally, let’s consider hands with bare straight blockers, such as 7-7 and 88. Without showdown value or additional draws, these hands are betting at almost a 100% frequency, using a pot-sizing to maximize fold equity. Having established this overview, we will now consider the first strength-bucket of interest, which will be the sets. Sets Sets are not double-barreling at 100% frequency on this straight-completing turn card. You are supposed to check about 35%, c-bet 66%-pot with about 30% of hands, and c-bet pot with about 35%. We are now going to consider some examples of sets that are not going to double-barrel but are checking back. Hand Example 39 You are on the Button with K♥-K♣-9♥-3♦ (Diagram 52).

Diagram 52 This hand is not blocking the possible straight because you are not holding the 7 or 8, and you are blocking your own outs by holding a 9, decreasing the chance that you improve on the river. You also hold no spades, so there are not going to be too many great rivers you can value bet anyway. Therefore you are better off keeping the pot small and using your hand as a bluffcatcher on many river cards. Hand Example 40 You are on the Button with 6♠-6♥-4♣-4♥ (Diagram 53). Here, you are holding a low set that has no additional equity or relevant (straight) blockers. Therefore you are better off checking back. You might also occasionally run into a K-K-x-x hand that decided to go for a delayed turn check-raise. If you bet on this turn and get check-raised you are usually in a horrible spot against top set, a straight or, in the best-case scenario, you are up against solid combo draws.

Diagram 53 Hand Example 41 You are on the Button with A♥-5♥-5♦-2♦ (Diagram 54).

Diagram 54

You are holding a bottom set that didn’t improve on the turn. In fact, your equity diminished. You have no additional straight draw, flush draw, and no blockers. Therefore, you should check back and pot control. Two Pair/Top pair or Overpair These hands are betting very selectively, and only when they have additional equity and can call a check-raise. Some examples: Hand Example 42 You are on the Button with K♦-Q♦-J♠-6♠ (Diagram 55).

Diagram 55 You have two pair, a gutshot and a flush draw. This is a powerful hand that can naturally continue as a double-barrel to build a pot. Hand Example 43 You are on the Button with 9♦-7♠-6♠-5♦ (Diagram 56). You have two pair, a gutshot, a flush draw and a straight blocker. This hand can continue against a raise and, because of card removal, this hand minimizes the chances of getting raised in the first place.

Diagram 56 Hand Example 44 You are on the Button with K♦-10♦-9♥-6♥ (Diagram 57).

Diagram 57

Here you turned two pair and are also holding a six, giving you more full house outs. You also don’t have a spade in your hand which makes it more likely that you should bet to charge flush draws. Out of these three hands, this is the only hand that cannot call a check-raise on the turn but is still willing to bet. Flush Draw With No Showdown Value and Bare Straight Draw Here you want to be very selective again. Can you call a check-raise? Do you have some favorable rivers? Or are you sacrificing equity by risking the check-raise and then having to give up? Hand Example 45 You are on the Button with Q♦-J♦-10♠-9♠ (Diagram 58).

Diagram 58 This hand is going to double-barrel because you can easily call a checkraise. You have an inside straight draw and a flush draw. Although you don’t have a lot of showdown value right now, you can certainly build a pot to get paid in case you hit. By betting, you can also make some marginal two-pair hands fold and even get some weaker hands to continue, such as a nut flush draw.

Hand Example 46 You are on the Button with A♠-4♥-3♥-2♠ (Diagram 59). This hand has no showdown value but you can double-barrel because you have nutted outs heading to the river. This is a combination that is not willing to call a check-raise but still has numerous nutted outs against the calling range.

Diagram 59 Hand Example 47 You are on the Button with 10♠-10♥-7♥-6♣ (Diagram 60).

Diagram 60 With this hand, you bet the flop because you have future blockers, and you are also blocking some strong hands on the flop by holding the 6♣ and 10♠. On the turn, you have a gutshot, a straight blocker and very little showdown value. However, you also have some blockers for the river that you can then triple barrel. So this hand is also going to be a double-barrel on the turn. It cannot call a check-raise but, nevertheless, you are still going for that second barrel.

Recap Training Session We will now take another look at the K♠-6♦-5♠ flop to recap how you should approach some specific holdings and then we can see how we can successfully combine the strategy between the flop and turn.

Flop Decisions on K♠-6♦-5♠ Hand Example 48 You are on the Button with K♥-Q♠-J♥-9♠ (Diagram 61).

Diagram 61 You have the second nut flush draw, top pair, and a straight draw blocker. Are you going to c-bet this hand IP for 75% pot, or are you going to check back? This hand should be c-bet. There is a ton of value to be gained because you can get called by weaker hands such as weaker flush draws, straight draws and weaker pairs. You are willing to build a pot in case you hit two pair, trips, or a flush.

Hand Example 49 You are on the Button with A♠-J♦-10♥-2♥ (Diagram 62).

Diagram 62 Here you have no showdown value or draw, but you do have the A♠. What do you do? With this hand, you are also going to c-bet. If you get check-raised you don’t lose any equity by folding. You are willing to build a pot in case you do hit the spade so you can apply pressure and balance your double and triple barrel spade runouts. Hand Example 50 You are on the Button with 10♥-10♣-5♥-5♣ (Diagram 63). Bottom set. Is this a c-bet or a check? Here it is best to check back because this hand is medium strength. Bottom set with absolutely no backup is going to be one of the few sets that you should check back. Usually, when you have a higher set or any significant backup, you are going to c-bet to build a pot.

Diagram 63 Hand Example 51 You are on the Button with A♣-A♥-K♣-K♦ (Diagram 64).

Diagram 64

You have top set but no straight draw. Is this a c-bet or a check? We are definitely going to bet this hand. Top set is a powerful hand; it can stack middle set, bottom set, or two pair. And therefore, we are betting almost all of our top set hands in position.

Turn Decisions on (K♠-6♦-5♠)-2♣ The turn card is 2♣, making the board (K♠-6♦-5♠)-2♣, which can be regarded as a light blank. It introduces a straight but it is still a light blank because the straight is quite unlikely given the preflop ranges along with the fact that the player in the Big Blind “should not be” defending many 4-3 combos. We are now going to look at how some of the earlier discussed hands are playing on this turn. Hand Example 52 You are on the Button with K♥-Q♠-J♥-9♠ (Diagram 65).

Diagram 65 Are you going to go for a double-barrel or are you going to take a free card? This hand will be a check back. You are not blocking straights and you are not holding a strong value hand so you should be happy to see a free river.

Hand Example 53 You are on the Button with A♠-J♦-10♥-2♥ (Diagram 66). After betting the flop and now pairing the 2♥ what should you do on the turn?

Diagram 66 Here you don’t have much to lose and should c-bet with a full-pot sizing to apply maximum pressure on your opponent. You have future blockers, and you hit the 2 but, more importantly, you can make much stronger hands fold. Finally, if you get check-raised, you are not giving up much equity. Hand Example 54 You are on the Button with A♣-A♥-K♣-K♦ (Diagram 67). You have no flush draw and no straight draw. Should you bet your top set on the turn? Yes, you should bet this hand for full pot. The reason is that it’s very unlikely your opponent has hit this turn card. You have no spade and no 7 or 8, meaning that all these straight draws and flush draws are unblocked and therefore likely to be in your opponent’s hand. Therefore you want to value bet big here for full pot.

Diagram 67

Turn Decisions on (K♠-6♦-5♠)-10♦ The second turn that we will discuss is the 10♦, making the board (K♠-6♦5♠)-10♦. This is a heavy blank that, at the same time, introduces a lot of draws: the backdoor flush draw and a lot of straight draws. Hand Example 55 You are on the Button with K♥-Q♠-J♥-9♠ (Diagram 68). Are you going to double barrel, or check back? Here you should ask how likely is it that you are going to get called by a weaker hand? In this case, you can certainly be called by a weaker hand so you are looking to bet. You have a wrap, a lot of nutted outs, a Queen-high flush draw and top pair. There are a lot of combo draws at this point that are significantly behind; backdoor diamonds, weaker spades, weaker straight draws and you can get a lot of value from them.

Diagram 68 Hand Example 56 You are on the Button with A♠-J♦-10♥-2♥ (Diagram 69).

Diagram 69

You have hit second pair and a gutshot. Are you going to check back or bet? Here you should bet full pot. With the J♦ in your hand you have both good future blockers and immediate blockers. You don’t gain much from checking back as you don’t have that many great river runouts. At this point, you are trying to apply pressure to make your opponent fold. As you have paired the ten, it makes it less likely that your opponent has either 10-10 or K-10. Hand Example 57 You are on the Button with A♠-A♣-3♠-2♠ (Diagram 70).

Diagram 70 With your overpair and flush draw, are you going to double barrel the turn? No, you should check. Your hand did not improve and the turn introduced a lot of possible additional equity for your opponent. They could potentially hold a better made hand, such as K-10. As you did not improve, you should check back and take the free river card. Hand Example 58 You are on the Button with K♥-8♣-7♣-6♥ (Diagram 71).

Diagram 71 You flopped two pair along with an open-ended straight draw. What are you going to do on the turn? You should check back to pot control. This turn card means that there are a lot of possible better made hands and also a lot of equity for your opponent. So you are going to check back and wait for a safe river to potentially bluff catch instead of building a pot. Your hand is very tricky to play and, facing a turn check-raise you would usually have to give up because there are so many bad rivers and you are also significantly behind against a set or K-10.

Main Takeaways ♦ Your preflop and flop ranges heavily influence your turn ranges. ♦ On the turn, you will often play a polarized strategy and use two sizings, pot and half-pot. ♦ After betting the flop, you want to make sure that you don’t add too many hands to your double barreling range. You also want to check with some strong hands on the turn to protect yourself from being exploited on the river after checking back the turn.

Single-raised Pots OOP Turn Strategy Introduction In this section, we will discuss turn strategy when you are OOP after checkcalling a 50% pot-size bet on the flop (4.25bb). You are in the Cutoff and your opponent is on the Button. The board we will use is 10♠-8♦-8♣. After check-calling on the 10♠-8♦-8♣ flop, you are very rarely betting. One of the only turn transitions where you have a significant c-betting range is the A♠. On this card, you are leading out about 55% of the time. On almost all of the other possible turn cards, you would be checking 90%+. In this case, it makes sense to go for a full range check on all possible turn cards except for the ace. The check-raising range is also very low, only about 5% on average across all different turn cards. If your opponent is double barreling on this board, they are representing a very polarized range. Therefore, you are not incentivized to check-raise because their range is either the nuts or air. If they have the nuts, you don’t want to get all the money in, and if they are bluffing, you want to call so they will keep bluffing. However, there are still a few hands you should be check-raising. More importantly, you must realize that you should be folding at a rather high frequency. The hands you should fold are often hands that you, in theory, could use to bluff-catch as you often have some showdown value, having check-called the flop. But you have to select some hands that are low EV check-calls and fold those hands. If you don’t you are becoming very exploitable. If your opponent knows you are going to check-call twice, maybe even three times, with an overpair at all times on this board, you become very exploitable. Your opponent could then play a very exploitative unbalanced strategy where they are value-betting a ton of hands or triplebarreling aggressively, knowing that you are often going to fold bluffcatchers with which you called on the turn.

Turn Transition Analysis on the 2♠ The first turn transition that we are going to analyze is the 2♠. The board now is (10♠-8♦-8♣)-2♠. This turn introduces a flush draw but, apart from that, this

card can be considered to be a light blank. You can recognize a hand that should fold against a second barrel by considering the following characteristics: ♦ Low showdown value. ♦ You have to be able to put this into the perspective of your entire turn range. You called the flop, so you are going to arrive on the turn with a lot of strong overpairs. You should be folding hands that have the lowest pair value or that have no pair whatsoever and can continue with the rest. ♦ Low equity versus opponent’s value range. ♦ Your opponent’s value range is mainly going to consist of 8-x combinations, along with some full houses. Against 8-x, you can still have decent equity in the form of a flush draw, or in the form of a straight draw. ♦ Blocking/removing your opponent’s natural bluffs. When you look at your hand, you should ask yourself, “Is my hand making it more or less likely that my opponent is holding a bluff or a value hand? Am I blocking the bluffs by holding straight and flush draw blockers, or am I blocking the made hands?” With hands that make it more likely that your opponent is bluffing or semi-bluffing, you should continue more aggressively and with hands that are blocking your opponent’s bluffs, you should go ahead and fold because you are more likely to be running into a strong value hand. High Frequency Folding Hands Hands such as a bare straight draw, a bare flush draw, bare J-J, a bare pair of tens and total air should pretty much be folding at a 100% frequency. A lot of these combinations don’t have much, if any, showdown value and they are not doing too well against your opponent’s value range. At the same time, they’re often blocking your opponent’s bluffs. Holding a hand such as A-9-76 is blocking the straight draws that your opponent could be bluffing with. It has no pair and so should be folded. Even if you hold a bare ten, you should almost always be folding because combinations with a ten are one of the most likely bluffing hands your opponent could be holding. By holding that card yourself, you make it much less likely your opponent is bluffing. With bare queens, you have an overpair without a straight draw and a flush draw. This hand can easily be beaten on the river by a flush, a straight, or an

overcard. So you are usually going to fold with these hands as well. Next, consider 10-x with a straight draw, without a flush draw. These hands should also be folded because you are again blocking your opponent’s natural bluffs. Finally, Jacks with a straight draw without a flush draw are pretty much the same story as 10-x combinations with no straight draw or flush draw. You are blocking our opponent’s natural bluffs and your opponent’s showdown value is relatively low. So here again (simplified), are the characteristics that need to be considered when deciding whether to fold against a second barrel: ♦ Low showdown value. ♦ Low equity versus the opponent’s value range. ♦ Blocking/removing your opponent’s natural bluffs. So, which hands should fold in the real world? Let’s look at some examples. Here, in the Cutoff, you are facing a 75% pot-size turn bet (12.75bb) Hand Example 59 You are in the Cutoff with Q♣-Q♥-5♥-4♦ (Diagram 72).

Diagram 72 This is a bare overpair of queens. You don’t have a lot of equity against

your opponent’s value range (8-x). Furthermore, there is a good chance you will get outdrawn by your opponent’s bluffs. If your opponent has a straight or flush draw, the probability that they could still hit it on the river is high. Even if they are just holding Aces or Kings, they would already have you beat. There are also many scary rivers on which you are not very willing to call down. So this is a hand that you should be folding on the turn against a second barrel. Hand Example 60 You are in the Cutoff with A♣-9♣-7♥-6♠ (Diagram 73).

Diagram 73 You would call the flop with this hand but you should now give up on the turn because you are blocking your opponent’s natural bluffs. You also have low showdown value with this hand. Turn Calling Range on (10♠-8♦-8♣)-2♠ To continue against a second barrel on the turn, you should look for the following characteristics: ♦ High showdown value. ♦ Decent equity versus the opponent’s value range. ♦ Blocking/removing your opponent’s value hands.

The following are examples of hands that can call a second barrel on (10♠-8♦-8♣)-2♠. Hand Example 61 You are in the Cutoff with Q♣-Q♦-10♣-9♥ (Diagram 74).

Diagram 74 You already have some equity against an 8, you can hit a 10, a Queen or a straight card. At the same time, you are not blocking flush draws which increases the likelihood that your opponent is bluffing. So this hand is going to continue against a second barrel. Hand Example 62 You are in the Cutoff with K♦-K♥-7♦-6♦ (Diagram 75). This hand is not blocking the straight draw combinations such as Q-9, Q-J, or any of the flush draws and it does have some significant showdown value. Therefore, you should call. You also have a small redraw with 7-6 against an 8. Bare Kings with zero back-up are usually going to fold but, in this instance, you can call.

Diagram 75 Hand Example 63 You are in the Cutoff with Q♠-J♠-J♣-10♥ (Diagram 76).

Diagram 76 Although this hand is blocking some potential bluffs that your opponent has, it just has too much equity with the overpair and flush draw, so you should call. Hands that are Raising the Turn

To raise the turn on (10♠-8♦-8♣)-2♠ for value you need to be unblocking 8-x combinations. If you are holding an 8, you are usually going to call because you are still behind against 10-8 and 10-10. When you are holding an 8 it also makes it much more likely that your opponent is bluffing. By raising, you will fold out their bluffs and you don’t give them the chance to go for a triple-barrel bluff. When you are holding 10-10, you are going to be raising very often because you are trying to get all the chips from 8-x, a hand that your opponent will have very often as you don’t block it. When holding 1010, you are also raising much more because you are blocking a big part of our your opponent’s bluffing range. If you are looking to raise on the turn as a bluff, you need outstanding blockers and protection. The raising ranges on the turn are very small. Most of the 10-x-x-x combos that want to check-raise, have already check-raised on the flop. So, basically, your check-raising range is centered around 10-x. This is especially the case when you have a hand that is vulnerable against your opponent’s bluffing/semi-bluffing range. An example is K♣-K♥-10♥-2♥ (Diagram 77).

Diagram 77 This hand is vulnerable against the flush and straight draws that your opponent might be double-barreling that could still easily outdraw you by the river. It is also not a hand that can stand a lot of triple barrels because the nuts

are going to change frequently on the river in a way that is unhelpful for you. At the same time, you are holding a 10 and a 2, so you have a few more full house outs against an 8, and you are blocking the full houses a little bit better. Often when you are holding those full house blockers, although you are not blocking a boat or a value hand particularly well, it is still an excellent randomizer to add in some bluffs into your range and it’s not hard to identify this randomizer. Hand Example 64 Another example is A♦-10♦-7♠-6♣ (Diagram 78).

Diagram 78 This hand needs a lot of protection against your opponent’s bluffs. You are not blocking Queens, or Jacks with spades or any straight or flush draws at all. And therefore, every once in a while, you are going to turn this hand into a bluff. Hand Example 65 Finally, consider Q♠-Q♦-J♥-10♥ (Diagram 79). This hand could also be used as a bluff raise. Sometimes when you are holding a very vulnerable hand, you want to turn your 10-x hands into a bluff to make your opponent’s life more difficult. Too many players have no (bluff)-raising range on the turn after check-calling the flop and this makes it very easy for their opponents to double-barrel with any equity. This also

creates the opportunity for a triple barrel bluff and they can also improve their hand without the danger of getting check-raised. To prevent this, you need to mix in some turn raises and you have to find some randomization tools such as: two pair, or 10-x that has no flush draw that you are then going to turn into a bluff.

Diagram 79

Main Takeaways ♦ You need to be balanced, so don’t call all the hands that you continued with on the flop on the turn. You need to let go of some of them in order to be unexploitable. You should fold: ♦ Hands that have the lowest showdown value. ♦ Hands that have low equity. ♦ Hands that are removing your opponent’s natural bluffs. ♦ In order to continue, you need: ♦ Hands that have high showdown value. ♦ Hands that have equity versus your opponent’s value hands. ♦ Hands that are blocking/removing your opponent’s value hands.

♦ In order to raise consider the following: ♦ If you are raising for value, you want to unblock the part of your opponent’s range that you can stack. If you are holding the nuts, you want to unblock the second nuts when you are raising to increase the probability of coolering your opponent. ♦ If you are bluffing, you want blockers to your opponent’s continuing range.

Single-raised Pots IP River Strategy Introduction In this section, we discuss river strategy playing IP. We will specifically focus on the bet/bet/bet line. Meaning that you have c-bet the flop and turn and now we want to analyze what action to take on the river. The board is K♠-6♦-5♠-10♦. You have c-bet the flop and turn, and you arrive on the river with an SPR of 1.3.

River Principles ♦ River c-bet ranges are polarized (either you bluff or have a very strong hand). On the river, no draws or semi-bluffs are possible. ♦ Your sizing should mostly be pot. Sometimes, when you are value betting thin or when you have a hand that is blocking a big part of your opponent’s calling range, you could bet smaller. More about that later. ♦ The higher your showdown-value, the lower your bluff frequency. Sometimes you will arrive on the river with a hand such as a set or two pair. Even though you might have blockers to the nuts, you are still going to elect to check back because you have a lot of showdown value and, therefore, the EV of a check back is very high. ♦ The better your blockers to the nuts, the higher your bluff frequency. This holds true especially if your showdown value is low. So the amount of showdown value you have on the river is crucial when you decide to bluff the river. Hand Example 66 The first river transition we will analyze is the A♠ completing the front door flush draw. The board is now (K♠-6♦-5♠-10♦)-A♠ (Diagram 80).

Diagram 80 Flushes The nut flush, second nut flush and third nut flush are all value-betting at a 100% frequency IP, preferably betting full pot. The stronger your hand is, the more often you should use a pot sizing. The reason is that you don’t have to be afraid of running into a better flush. And also, realize that the OOP player is leading around 50% of their flushes into you. You are still going to value-bet all flushes, and are only checking 20% of the time when you are holding a low flush. So you should almost always be value-betting a flush on this river. Showdown Value Whenever you are holding a hand that has showdown value that isn’t a flush, you should almost never bet. The only hands that you can often bet are straights with flush blockers. There is no point in betting a straight without a flush blocker, or hands that are even weaker than a straight such as sets and two pairs. Again, if you have a lot of showdown value, the EV of a check back is very high and there is no reason to use your hand for a bet. You want to play an efficient strategy, which means when you are bluffing, you bluff with hands that have very little chance to win at showdown.

Bluffs The nut flush blocker has less low showdown value, so hands weaker than two pairs of sixes and fives, are bluffing at a 100% frequency. The second and third nut flush blockers also bet at an almost 100% frequency. If you have a nut flush blocker while holding A-K, your bluffing frequency is still quite high, but it’s already a little lower because you are holding more showdown value. The most crucial factor here is how low your showdown value is and holding the perfect blocker isn’t as relevant. When you arrive at the river, always think, “Do I have a chance of winning this hand by checking back?” If the answer is no, you should always consider putting it into your bluffing range. Hand Example 67 On the 8♥ river, (K♠-6♦-5♠-10♦)-8♥, some straights get there but, more importantly, the two flush draws bricked (Diagram 81).

Diagram 81 The principles of your strategy on this river are still the same, but we will briefly revisit them because they are so important.

♦ River c-bet ranges are polarized (you either have a bluff or a strong value hand). ♦ Your sizing should mostly be pot. ♦ The higher your showdown-value, the lower your bluff frequency. ♦ The better your blockers to the nuts, the higher your bluff frequency. The board is K♠-6♦-5♠-10♦-8♥. Straights should always be value bet on this runout. A set on this river card is also betting at a high frequency. If you have a set that can beat other sets or a set that is blocking the straight, then you definitely want to value bet. Two pairs, top pairs and overpairs are never value-betting. Those hands are still beating missed flush draws, so they do have some showdown value but they aren’t strong enough to go for value. Lastly, you have air with straight blockers. In this context “air” refers to less than a King because those hands are seldom going to win at showdown. Air without straight blockers is rarely bluffing.

Main Takeaways ♦ Always consider how much showdown value you have and how relevant your blockers are. ♦ River c-bet ranges are polarized (you either have a bluff or a strong value hand). ♦ Your sizing should mostly be pot. ♦ The higher your showdown-value, the lower your bluff frequency. ♦ The better your blockers to the nuts, the higher your bluff frequency.

Putting it all Together We have now discussed the strategic fundamentals of IP play on the flop, turn, and river. The next step is to tie these fundamentals together to create a solid three-street game plan. Therefore, we are now going to enter into some in-depth three-street hand analyses.

Hand 1 Hand Example 68 You are on the Button with A♠-5♦-2♦-2♠ and the flop is K♠-6♦-5♠ (Diagram 82).

Diagram 82 On this board, you are holding the nut flush draw, a pair of fives and a backdoor flush draw. This hand should be c-betting the flop because you lack showdown value and you can call a check-raise. You are also removing some of the value hands that your opponent could be continuing with on the flop such as the nut flush draw or hands such as sets and two pairs that include a

5. So you should bet this flop and call a check-raise if necessary. But let’s imagine that you c-bet and your opponent calls. Hand Example 69 The turn is (K♠-6♦-5♠)-10♦ (Diagram 83). You are now holding two flush draws but have barely any showdown value, so you should go for a double barrel. The reason why you double barrel is that you have more outs that you can hit against your opponent’s check-raising range and you hold less nuttiness in your hand. You can call a check-raise given that you have more equity against hands such as sets and two pairs, so double barreling here is not going to hinder you from realizing your equity. In this case you should use a pot sizing. In the event of a checkraise you will call.

Diagram 83 Hand Example 70 The river is (K♠-6♦-5♠-10♦)-Q♦ (Diagram 84).

Diagram 84 You hit the flush on the river! But it’s a very weak one. Really weak flushes often go for a check back on the river after double barreling on the flop and turn. With most of your flushes on this board you would go ahead and value bet. But here you are holding one of the weakest possible flushes, hence a check back is preferable.

Hand 2 Hand Example 71 You are on the Button with K♠-K♣-10♦-9♠ and the flop is 10♠-8♦-8♣ (Diagram 85).

Diagram 85 The most important concepts on a paired board are: ♦ On the flop, you should use a 33% c-bet sizing. ♦ On 10♠-8♦-8♣, you c-bet around 48% of your range. ♦ When c-betting on 10♠-8♦-8♣, you are looking to bet overpairs that include a 10 because those hands block 10-10 and 10-8. ♦ If you have an overpair that has no backup in the form of a 10 or a straight draw, then you are looking to bet with hands that are blocking some of the rundowns by holding a J, 9 or a 7. With K♠-K♣-10♦-9♠ you have a strong overpair, a 10 blocker, a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. This hand is a clear c-bet on the flop. If you held the same hand without a backdoor flush draw you would be more inclined to check back because there are fewer turns to double barrel and fewer rivers on which you can win at showdown. Due to the paired board you bet 33%-pot and your opponent calls. Your opponent is going to have a very wide calling range, which probably includes hands such as weaker overpairs, straight draws, 10-x, and so on. Hand Example 72

The turn is (10♠-8♦-8♣)-3♠ (Diagram 86).

Diagram 86 On the turn, you have improved by adding a flush draw. After betting the flop, you didn’t get check-raised, so you can assume you still hold the best hand on the turn. You are also doing well against some of the hands that your opponent might continue with, such as Q-Q with spades, J-J with spades and straight draws such as J-10-9 or Q-J-10. On the turn, you are mostly using a 50%-pot sizing but a smaller sizing could also be justified. You value bet with a 50%-sizing on the turn, and your opponent calls again. Hand Example 73 The river is (10♠-8♦-8♣-3♠)-2♥ (Diagram 87).

Diagram 87 You didn’t hit the flush draw but still hold considerable showdown value. After double barreling, you are now looking to check back on the river. Depending on your opponent, you could also triple barrel for value here. For example, if you believe that your opponent would have raised hands with an 8 or 10-10 on either the flop or the turn, you are most likely still ahead. In the specific situation of Button versus Big Blind, where the Big Blind is threebetting almost all Aces, you can three-barrel quite frequently. When you do go for the three-barrel, using a small sizing is probably the best as this has a greater chance of getting called by hands you have beat. Also, if you have spades, it makes your hand better to triple barrel because your opponent is then unlikely to have spades and is more likely to bluff-catch, given that the spades have busted.

Hand 3 Hand Example 74 You are on the Button with A♠-7♦-6♠-2♦ and the flop is 10♠-8♦-8♣ (Diagram 88).

Diagram 88 This hand should be c-bet on the flop. An important point to consider is how to proceed on certain turn cards if you check back. In this case, you don’t have a nutted turn card, but you do have some turns that can be barreled, for example, a straight and some flush draws. With A♠-7♦-6♠-2♦ you have low showdown value and low EV when checking back because of the lack of good turn cards that you can hit with this hand. Therefore you should bet 33%-pot, as your standard strategy suggests on paired boards. The opponent calls. Hand Example 75 The turn is (10♠-8♦-8♣)-3♠ (Diagram 89). This turn adds a flush draw to your hand, thus improving equity against your opponent’s calling range. You do want to use a bigger sizing because you want to be more polarized on this turn card. If you have a hand that benefits from making your opponent fold a medium strength hand (as your current hand does) you want to go for a large sizing and bet pot. If you do not have a spade draw, you should still consider betting this hand because the EV of checking back is so low. However, the poor showdown value would not be the only reason to go for a turn bet. You also want to make sure that you show up on the river with some bluffs in your range and a hand such as A♥-7♦-6♥-2♦ will be a very efficient river

bluff because of the lack of showdown value. Also, sometimes you want to bluff the river with a hand with no spades, so you make it more likely that your opponent arrived on the river with spades and will end up folding with a higher frequency.

Diagram 89 Hand Example 76 The river is (10♠-8♦-8♣-3♠) -2♥ (Diagram 90).

Diagram 90 On this river, you should be checking back for two reasons: ♦ You have spades and that makes it less likely that your opponent has a flush draw and more likely that your opponent is holding a made hand. This means the success rate of your bluff will be lower on this river card. ♦ In case your opponent was holding a combo draw, you might now even be winning as you have made a pair. Although your showdown value is very marginal, it’s still something that you have to take into consideration.

Single-raised Pots OOP River Strategy Introduction In this section, we will discuss multi-street play that leads up to playing OOP on the river after check-calling the flop and the turn and facing the third barrel. We will discuss how to bluff-catch effectively OOP over multiple streets. As you know by now, when OOP you have to play a more passive strategy compared to playing IP, where you do much more betting. When OOP, you have to play much more reactively, often checking and then deciding how to respond to the action taken by your opponent. There is not a great deal of difference in bluff-catching on the river between playing IP and OOP. What matters most is removals. Your opponent will bet a polarized range of hands and your calling range should be centered around removing their best value hands and unblocking their bluffing range. One thing to keep in mind is that if the river changes the nuts, you are incentivized to lead some hands to maximize value from your value range. However, you can’t lead all your value hands, otherwise you will be checkfolding too often.

Breakdown As on most boards when you are OOP, you are not using a high c-bet frequency on 10♠-8♦-8♣. You should only c-bet 10.8% and use a half-pot sizing when you do bet. Let’s analyze two different boards to discuss bluffcatching. Hand Example 77 You are in the Cutoff and the flop is 10♠-8♦-8♣ (Diagram 91).

Diagram 91 You check and your opponent bets half-pot. How do you play your range on this board? If you face a half pot stab on 10♠-8♦-8♣, K-K-10-x combinations are check-raising 28% of the time. The reason is that your bare overpair needs a lot of protection. You are check-raising the hands that don’t hold any straight blockers because those hands allow you to call on more turns. If you always just call your K-K-10 combinations on the flop, you are allowing your opponent to have very effective double and triple barrels on turn or river cards that complete a straight. Knowing this you are sometimes trying to make your opponents fold immediately by check-raising the flop with K-K10. Combinations of A-A-10 are only check-raising 14% of the time, half as often as K-K-10. The reason is that Aces require less protection. Sprinkling some of these hands into your check-raising range is very important, especially the hands with showdown value that need some protection. For example, J-J-10 is check-raising 45% and Q-Q-10 is check-raising 38%. So you do want to add some of these hands into your check-raising range. If you don’t do this, your opponent has a very easy time taking a lot of stabs on the flop, realizing equity and also realizing some bluff potential. Now let’s presume you play check-call on the flop. Hand Example 78

The turn is (10♠-8♦-8♣)-7♣ (Diagram 92).

Diagram 92 On the 7♣ turn, you should check your entire range as the 7♣ is not a great card for you. By betting on the flop your opponent represented a more polarized range. You didn’t check-raise so you don’t have many combinations of 8-x, 10-10, or 10-8 in your range, which will leave your range consisting mainly of overpairs. Therefore you are going to check and let your opponent decide if they want to polarize their range by double barreling further. If your opponent goes for a second barrel, you are mainly going to call or fold. On this card, which is relatively bad for your range, you want to continue with hands that have decent equity. Most Aces are folding at this point (58%). Notice that some of the Aces were check-raising the flop. If that hadn’t been the case, then your turn folding frequency with Aces would be even higher. On the turn, if you have Aces with clubs, you have an un-foldable hand and have to continue. You have equity against straights, trips, and even against a full house. You also have outs to make a very strong hand. The same holds for all overpairs with clubs. These hands have just too much equity to fold. The same overpairs with a ten, A-A-10, Q-Q-10 etc. can also be used to check-raise the turn at a low frequency. The idea is, that on the turn the value

of calling diminishes with those hands because you are not doing well against your opponent’s bluffing range. So even if your opponent is bluffing, you will have a problem with a lot of rivers. You either have to fold, or your opponent can get there and just check behind and still win. The fact that you are not doing that well in terms of realizability and equity against your opponent’s betting range on the turn means you should turn some of these combinations into a bluff. This is especially the case with Kings as Kings are more vulnerable. Over 30% of the time, you should turn your K-K-10 hand into a bluff on the turn and check-raise. Players rarely make these types of bluffs. Many players look down at a hand like K-K-10-4 and end up folding or calling once again. However, you rarely see them check-raising. This makes check-raising a very powerful play because people are going to give you a lot of credit. Furthermore, a lot of IP players are going to doublebarrel this turn aggressively with wide ranges and they are not expecting you to check-raise. This means that much of the time you are going to be up against any kind of draw. By check-raising, you can get them off those draws and steal their equity. After check-calling the turn, you are going to see a river. Before considering the river card, realize that your range at this point mainly consists of overpairs with flush draws, overpairs with straight draws and occasional slowplays. Hand Example 79 The river is (10♠-8♦-8♣-7♣)-3♦ (Diagram 93).

Diagram 93 On the 3♦, you should check your entire range. Your opponent has been representing a very polarized range so far by double-barreling. You just called and are in a bluff-catching scenario. Recognize that when you arrive on the river and your opponent is betting again, you must let go of some hands or you are becoming exploitable. If your opponent knows that you are going to bluff-catch with all your overpairs on blanks, they can exploit you with a combination of checking and value-betting relentlessly. So you have to find some selective calls and carefully consider which hands to fold. If your opponent triple barrels, then they will often be playing the river with a very polarized range, using a large sizing. In this case, potting is the only correct option for the IP player, and the OOP player should fold at a 51% frequency. For the most part, you are going to have to selectively pick overpairs that have a good combination of blockers and high showdown value. You have to let go of a ton of overpairs, especially the ones with clubs. The A♣ in particular is not a good card to have when calling on the river because you are blocking some of the busted flush draws that your opponent could be holding. In that case, you should fold almost all the bare Aces with clubs. If you are not holding any of the clubs, there are some combinations of Aces that want to call on the river. The hands that do call mostly have good blockers to your opponent’s value range and they are unblocking your opponent’s bluffing range. The cards that you are looking to have in this

situation to call are pair blockers and straight blockers. A hand such as A♥A♦-10♦-J♠ blocks some straight, two pair, and full house combinations and unblocks bluffs that your opponent could be holding. Therefore it would be a good bluff-catcher. The most important factor on the river are the blockers you hold and not your made hand value as you are beating very little of your opponent’s value range anyway. You only beat bluffs, so you want to call with hands that make it more likely your opponent is bluffing. Hand Example 80 You are in the Cutoff and the flop is 8♠-7♦-6♣ (Diagram 94).

Diagram 94 This is a rainbow, straight board. On this flop, the OOP player is c-betting 15% of the time for a half-pot sizing and checking all other hands. The bluffing range is made of hands that are unable to check-call, for example AJ-10 and A-J-9. On this flop, you are check-calling quite often and check-raising relatively infrequently. The check-raising range on this board consists of similar hands to the c-betting range. It includes hands that can’t check-call but do have some equity and are therefore good bluffing candidates. Some of the best hands to check-raise on this board are weak overpairs that are blocking straights, such as J♦-10♦-10♠-2♠. This hand blocks rundowns that are hitting

this board very hard, for example J-10-9 and 10-9-8. When it comes to check-calling, you should call most of the strong made hands such as sets, two pairs, the second nut straight and the third nut straight, etc. These hands are usually taking a passive postflop line. Hand Example 81 The turn is (8♠-7♦-6♣)-4♦ (Diagram 95). There is no texture shift with this turn card so you don’t have a leading range. You are still behind against your opponent’s flop value range. This turn is very safe for the IP player so they should start to polarize by betting 100% pot or checking. In this instance, your opponent decides to double barrel and pots the turn.

Diagram 95 Against this second barrel, you should continue with hands that have good equity. These are two pair with backup, flush draws, open-enders with flush draws, sets, and low straights. Hands that floated the flop hoping for a good turn are now looking to fold. Hands such as backdoor flush draws and straight blockers have now significantly diminished in value if they didn’t improve to a flush draw or a straight on this turn. Inside straight draws, along with a lot of Aces hands, such as A♥-A♦-6♠-2♠, were good enough to float on the flop looking for a good turn but are now folding.

Against a pot-size second barrel, you should let a lot of these hands go and play passively when you do have any of the made hands apart from 10-9, which is going to raise at a very high frequency. There is already a ton of money in the middle, 10-9 is very strong and you do need some protection on a two-diamond board. Therefore, you are going to be raising with 10-9 combinations. What hands are going to be raising on this turn that are not 10-9? In fact, only 2% of non-10-9 hands should be raising and this range is going to consist mainly of combo draws, two pair with draws and combinations that have some potentially difficult rivers to play but have a lot of equity. An example is 10♦-8♦-6♠-4♠. This hand holds three pair, a gutshot and a flush draw. It has a lot of equity but it will encounter quite a few difficult rivers, especially being OOP. Very few hands other than 10-9 are raising and you could even simplify to check-calling or check-folding all hands other than 109. You decide to call the turn. Hand Example 82 The river is (8♠-7♦-6♣-4♦)-2♥ (Diagram 96).

Diagram 96 After calling the turn, you arrive at the river with an SPR of about 0.8. The board texture didn’t change, so the OOP player will check their entire range and the IP player should triple-barrel with a pot sizing and a very polarized

range. Even a lot of the 8-high straights are no longer strong enough for the IP player to triple barrel and all of these combinations should be checked back. The value range of the IP player consists of all the 9-high straights or better. If the IP player is going to use an all-in sizing, the OOP player should be bluff-catching with around 55% of their range. The IP player is risking an 80% pot-size bet to win the pot, which means the bluff so it has to work 45% of the time or more to be profitable. If the OOP player folds more than 55% of the time, the IP player could turn every hand into a bluff and show a profit. The key factors for the OOP player are the removal effect and their blockers. On the turn the calling range is based on a mix of equity and removal but on the river it’s all about removal cards. 9-5 is a combination that is always be calling. With this hand you could split the pot and it is also blocking 10-9. On this board there are so many different straights that you cannot blindly start to call with all the straights that you are holding. If you do, you will end up calling way too much. The only hands that you can call that are lower than 9-high straights are straights, sets, or two pairs, with a 10, because this means that you are blocking a decent part of your opponent’s value range.

Main Takeaways ♦ Your opponent’s river betting range will be polarized, so your calling range should be centered around removing their best value hands and unblocking their bluffing range. ♦ If the river changes the nuts you are incentivized to lead some of your hands to maximize value from your value range. However, you can’t lead all value hands, otherwise you would check-fold too often. ♦ The most important factors for calling on the river are the removal effect and the blockers that you hold that block your opponent’s value range.

08

Postflop Theory: 3-bet Pots Introduction Now that we have discussed a solid strategy for single-raised pots, it is time to dive into 3-bet pots. This is an incredibly important component of PLO strategy. SPRs are decreasing, chips are flying everywhere and the pots are huge. For that reason you want to prepare yourself by playing correct ranges. 3bet pots play at much lower SPRs than single-raised pots, which drastically influences your strategy. Some key differences between single-raised pots and 3-bet pots are that in 3-bet pots: ♦ Preflop ranges are more defined. ♦ Boards are going to be more polarized in favor of one or the other player. ♦ Postflop bet-sizing will include potting and check-raising for stacks way more often than in single-raised pots. ♦ Polarization of c-betting ranges is less important as the SPR becomes shallower, especially for OOP players who want to end the situation as quickly as possible.

Stack Off Before we go into c-betting strategy fundamentals, it will be helpful to quickly go over how to use stack-off charts to review and learn from postflop mistakes in big pots. The reason it is good to analyze this before getting into c-betting strategy is because not all the mistakes that are made at the table are equally costly.

Certain mistakes cost much more than others, such as mistakes in big pots where hundreds of big blinds are in play. Stack-off situations are common in PLO because 3-bet and 4-bet pots that get to the flop are not as rare as in NLHE. To learn how to review and improve in these big pots, you need to understand how to use stack-off charts correctly. Here is an example: You are on the Button and raise with 7♦-6♦-5♠-4♠. The Small Blind is 100bb deep, decides to 3-bet and you call. The flop is K♦-J♦-4♣ and you are playing at an SPR of 3.5. You have bottom pair and a weak flush draw. The Small Blind bets full pot, presumably committing to the pot, meaning that you don’t have any fold equity when shoving. You want to figure out if getting all the money in is profitable. How can you solve such a situation? You use this four-step process: 1) Calculate the SPR. 2) Figure out how much equity you are required to have to stack off profitably given the SPR. 3) Figure out how much equity your hand has versus your opponent’s range. 4) Make a decision. Now let’s apply these four steps to solve the situation. 1) The SPR for this situation is 3.5. The Small Blind 3-bet to 12bb and you called, meaning there is about 25bb in the pot while you both have 88bb remaining in your stacks. 2) Look up the required equity for a 3.5 SPR in the stack-off chart (see page 24). As you see the required stack off equity is about 43.5%. 3) To calculate your equity against your opponent’s range, you can use a variety of tools. A free and well-known one is ProPokerTools.com. On this site, you will be able to simulate PLO equities. You can put your opponent on a certain range and then you want to run that range against the hand you are holding on a specific flop. Remember, that while it is impossible to give your opponent an exact range, in most cases you should be able to create a good estimation. Based on my calculation using ProPokerTools.com, your hand has about 34% equity against your opponent’s stack-off range.

4) Now it’s time to use the calculations to get a correct decision. The required equity to stack off is 43.5% but you only have around 34%. So you shouldn’t stack off. But can you call? While you are getting the correct odds to call if it were an all-in bet, the fact that there’s still some money behind on the turn and you are unlikely to realize all your equity on high turn cards, effectively weakens your pot odds. So you should fold.

Main Takeaways ♦ When the SPR increases, you need more equity. When the SPR decreases, you need less equity to stack off profitably. ♦ When the SPR decreases, polarity, positional advantages and disadvantages have less of an impact on strategy. If the SPR increases, these factors become more important. ♦ At low SPRs, equity is the driving force. ♦ Understanding stack-off charts is crucial to study stack-off situations.

3-bet Pots OOP Flop Strategy Introduction This chapter covers one of the most important spots in the entire game, as we are about to discuss re-steal situations. Playing correctly in 3-bet pots OOP is one of the most crucial elements to master if you want to improve your win rate. The reasons are simple. Whenever you are in the blinds, especially the Small Blind, and you are facing a late position open-raise, you will very often end up 3-betting, so this is a very frequently occurring spot. The pots are also much bigger than single-raised pots. So these spots occur often and also lead to big pots. This makes understanding how to play them correctly a vital component of your PLO skill set. The theory in this chapter will be discussed from a situation where the OOP 3-bettor is in the Small Blind, and the IP caller is on the Button. Playing OOP in 3-bet pots, you are incentivized to use large sizings frequently on favorable boards. By using a large sizing, you show that you are committing yourself to end the situation. This is especially beneficial on dry boards such as 7♥-4♣-2♦, where A-A-x-x has a lot of equity, but usually marginal playability.

Board Textures The reason why understanding more about board textures is so essential is because the ranges are very asymmetric. The interaction between your range and the board is going to be different in every situation. Understanding which board textures are good for your range and which are not, will help you to make some accurate decisions regarding your strategy. The number of different flop combinations is more than 1,700 and we obviously can’t discuss every single one. Therefore, it is best to categorize them and then associate different strategies to those different types of boards. Here we will be discussing seven different board textures.

1) Ace-high Boards

The first type of flop to consider is Ace-high. These boards feature an Ace, there is no flush or straight possible and there is also no pair. Examples of Ace-high boards are A♠-K♠-9♦ and A♣-6♦-3♥. On these boards you, as the 3-bettor, have a massive polarity advantage because you are holding way more top sets than your opponent. For that same reason you also have a gigantic equity advantage. Therefore, you can c-bet almost your full range on A-high boards. Sizing The sizing you should use depends on the type of Ace-high board. If the board is dry, for example A♥-6♠-2♦, you use a smaller 50%-pot sizing. If the board is wet and dynamic, for example A♥-J♣-3♣, then use a half-pot to pot sizing. Half-pot size bets will be used with more polarized ranges and full pot bets will be used with more merged ones. Merged ranges need more protection and they benefit more from maximizing fold equity. Merged ranges also play better on turns when the SPR is low. A bare top set on A♥J♣-9♥ is a good example of a hand that should be bet for full pot. Whereas a hand such as A♣-K♥-Q♣-J♥ should bet half-pot. So when the board is dry, bet half-pot, if the board is wet, bet half-pot to full pot. Hand Example 83 You are in the Big Blind with K♥-J♣-10♣-8♥. The Button opens and you decide to 3-bet. The flop comes A♣-7♦-3♦ (Diagram 97).

Diagram 97 This is a board where the Big Blind has a polarity advantage and can be holding some very strong hands, such as top set and the nut flush draw. In this case, though, you have pretty much nothing. You have a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor wrap and, therefore, you can bet the flop. This hand is very weak but remember that you can almost bet any hand on Ace-high boards because you have such a big polarity and equity advantage. In this hand, use a half-pot sizing because you do not want to risk too much. You are not going to make hands with a lot of equity fold anyway, so there is no reason bet very large. Hand Example 84 You are in the Small Blind with A♣-A♠-Q♥-2♥. The Button, who is a regular, opens and you decide to 3-bet. The Button calls and the flop is A♥7♣-6♦ (Diagram 98).

Diagram 98 You have flopped top set and a backdoor flush draw. In this situation, you should bet to maximize your value. Both a half-pot and a full-pot sizing would be fine in this situation. The benefit of betting half-pot is that you make it more likely that your opponent is going to continue with a hand that is going to get them into trouble on later streets. You want your opponent to continue with gutters and pairs with a backdoor flush draw that could make something like two pair or trips on the turn. With such a hand, they will have a very hard time folding. If you make those hands fold on the flop by betting pot, you are missing a ton of value. With the weakest top sets that have no backup whatsoever, you can pot because you might run into some realizability issues on later streets if you decide to bet smaller. But if you have any type of backup, betting smaller is the way to go. Hand Example 85 You are sitting in the Small Blind with Q♥-10♠-7♠-6♥ and the Button opens. This hand doesn’t play well multiway and it flops very smooth so you decide to 3-bet. The flop comes A♦-10♥-2♦ (Diagram 99).

Diagram 99 You are holding the middle pair blocker, a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. In this case, you can use your middle pair hand as a bluff. You very often have the nuts and block some hands that pair or make sets with the 10♥. Furthermore, your hand isn’t strong enough to check-call. You should just bet half-pot here and be fine folding to a raise.

2) Broadway Boards The second type of board to consider are Broadway flops. These flops always have two Broadway cards, don’t allow immediate straights, are unpaired and they are not monotone. Examples are Q♦-J♦-7♣ and K♠-J♣-2♦. On these boards, you still have a significant equity advantage which leads to you cbetting over 70% of the time after 3-betting in the Small Blind versus Button scenario. When the board is wet, your side cards matter a lot and your c-bet frequency generally diminishes slightly. When the board is very dry, we are betting very often. Sizing Specifically for wet board textures you should be betting both small and big. This means you use two different sizings. You bet big with the mediumstrength part of your range, in other words using a merged strategy. By doing

this, you lower the SPR and deny as much equity as possible. You also bet less than pot (usually half pot) with a polarized range. This gives you a good price on your bluffs and limits your losses with your weakest hands. You also want to induce action and make your opponent continue when you hold your strongest hands. Note We are specifically discussing c-betting the flop from the Small Blind against the Button. Remember the Button had a wide preflop range, even after calling the 3-bet. Against tighter opening ranges from EP, MP and the Cutoff, you should lower your c-bet frequency. Versus these tighter ranges you are mainly 3-betting Aces preflop and your opponent’s ranges will be Broadway heavy and tight, meaning you have to be more cautious. Hand Example 86 You are in the Small Blind, holding A♦-A♣-K♣-9♦. The Button opens and you elect to 3-bet. The Button calls and the flop is K♠-J♦-8♦ (Diagram 100).

Diagram 100 On this wet Broadway board, you do have a potting range. Remember that you are using a small sizing when polarized and a big sizing when betting merged on these boards. In this case, you are holding an overpair, top pair blocker and have the nut flush draw. You are very strong in this spot, so this

hand wants to use a polarized strategy and should bet half-pot. The hands that you are potting on this board are hands that are willing to stack off on the flop, but have very poor realizability on future streets, for example, K♥-K♣-5♣-3♠. This hand currently has a lot of equity against almost any range but lacks in playability on future streets and it benefits from potting to try and end the hand as soon as possible. Hand Example 87 You are in the Small Blind with A♦-K♠-10♦-9♠. The Button opens, you 3-bet and the Button calls. The flop comes Q♣-10♣-4♠ (Diagram 101).

Diagram 101 On these two-tone boards, you are not going to have the highest c-bet frequency because relevant suits really matter. Your hand is very turndetermined. If your opponent gets all the money in on the flop you would have to fold. This would probably leave quite a lot of equity on the table since you have a gutshot, a strong backdoor flush draw and many two pair outs that could be good against some part of your opponent’s range. So, this is one of the few hands on this board that is better off check-calling. Hand Example 88 You are sitting in the Small Blind with K♣-K♠-7♦-6♠. The Button opens, you 3-bet and get called. The flop comes Q♠-10♥-3♥ (Diagram 102).

Diagram 102 In this instance, you are holding a backdoor straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Check-calling is marginal as, if your opponent shows strength, you are probably better off check-folding. For this reason, you should bet half-pot on the flop and fold to a raise. On cards such as the 9♠ and J♠, you could go for a double-barrel because you are holding good blockers along with decent equity.

3) Mid/Low Wet Boards These boards are wet so they are always going to be two-toned. They don’t build straights but there are a lot of flush draws possible on this board texture that are not often going to be in your range. You don’t have many strong hands on these boards and there are a lot of problematic runouts. So, you have to be more careful and are only c-betting 40-60% of the time. Examples of such flops are 10♥-8♠-5♥ and 8♠-7♦-3♦. Sizing Again, on wet boards you are betting a mix of half-pot and full-pot. You are going to be potting with hands that lack playability but have enough equity and fold equity to make the investment and guarantee it will be realized. You bet half pot because you have weak hands that can’t get it in but would benefit from a fold or a cheap turn. You balance those with strong hands that want action.

Hand Example 89 You are in the Small Blind with K♣-10♣-9♥-8♥ and face a Button open-raise. You 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes 9♣-8♣-2♥ (Diagram 103).

Diagram 103 You have hit the flop hard with top two pair, the King-high flush draw and a backdoor flush draw. On this board, you should realize that you are not doing that well in terms of transitions on the turn and river. There are a lot of marginal cards that are not so good for your preflop range, such as a J, 10, 7 or 6. You are not going to have strong hands often enough on those turns because you are mainly going to have overpairs in your range. The best hands you will have on these boards are overpairs with flush draws. Occasionally you will have some rundowns, hands such as the hand you actually hold. Your range doesn’t have too much equity on this board, so you will do a lot of checking and you need to think about protecting that checking range. If you are blocking most of the relevant calling hands, then you should consider slowplaying the hand to protect your checking range and allow your opponent to bluff. K♣-10♣-9♥-8♥ has tremendous playability and blockers and therefore you should put this hand into a slowplay range and play a check-call. Hand Example 90

You are in the Small Blind with K♣-Q♥-J♥-J♦ and face a Button open-raise. You 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes J♠-4♣-3♣ (Diagram 104).

Diagram 104 Although this board is two-toned, the side cards are very low and it is tough for either player to hit a 3 or a 4. Therefore this board plays quite a bit “drier.” When you do establish that this board is quite dry you should consider slowplaying some top set combinations because it’s very hard for your opponent to have hands such as wraps, two pairs, or other hands that could be stabbing, especially when you are holding the K♣. The hand that you currently hold has a lot of blockers and minimizes the continuing range of your opponent. For that reason, it is a good idea to check with this hand to protect your checking range. Hand Example 91 You are in the Small Blind with K♥-K♦-7♦-5♠ facing a Button open-raise. You 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes J♥-6♠-3♥ (Diagram 105). You have an overpair, a gutshot, and the future King-high flush blocker. At this point, both potting and checking would be fine. It is hard for your opponent to hold a better made hand because there are not too many likely sets and two pairs out there on this board. If you pot and all the money goes in, you are usually up against a combo draw and you are doing okay. But the main reason to pot here is that you have a ton of fold equity and in case you do run into a set or two pair, you

still have outs. You also don’t have many turns that are great for your hand, so you have some issues regarding the playability of your hand on future streets. This is another reason why you want to pot and maximize your fold equity.

Diagram 105

4) Mid-low Dry Boards Although these boards look very similar to the mid/low wet boards, they play quite differently, and many players misplay them. Examples of such flops are J♣-7♦-3♥ and 8♠-3♥-2♣. These boards are very good for you as the 3-bettor because it is hard for your opponent to have many great hands such as sets, or two pairs. Your Aces are quite strong, so on these boards you are c-betting 70% of the time. Sizing On these mid/low dry boards you need to pot it! You can apply so much pressure on your opponents, specifically if they are players who call 3-bets with hands such as A-K-J or with K-K combinations. Remember that using a pot sizing strategy also means you will have to bet pot with complete air and with hands you are going to fold when facing a raise. When neither player’s range strongly interacts with the cards on the board, the 3-bettor has the advantage.

Hand Example 92 You are in the Small Blind with K♥-Q♥-J♦-8♦. The Button opens, you 3-bet and the Button calls. The flop is Q♣-8♥-3♠ (Diagram 106).

Diagram 106 This board isn’t very dangerous for your preflop range. You don’t have to pay much attention to the suits in your hand because there are no possible flush draws. Aces can also come along with a Queen-blocker, 8-blocker, inside straight draw, or a hand such as a backdoor straight draw with a backdoor flush draw. All those hands are much stronger on a rainbow board compared to a twotoned board where you don’t have the flush draw. Because your Aces hands do so well on this board, you can apply a lot of pressure on your opponent. You are often betting, so there is no reason to slowplay to protect your checking range. You want to start building a pot because there are a lot of turn cards on which you will have a lot of equity, especially when compared with a two-toned board texture. Hand Example 93 You are in the Small Blind with A♥-A♠-9♥-3♦ and face a Button open-raise. You 3-bet, the Button calls, and the flop comes 10♠-8♥-2♣ (Diagram 107). Your opponent is shorter stacked, so now the SPR is only about 2. Most of your overpairs are looking to pot this flop. If they have any blockers or

backup, they are willing to commit. It’s more difficult to be outflopped on a rainbow board and you will often hold a lot of equity when all the money goes in. In this case, you are blocking some of the straight draws with the 9♥. You are also holding a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor straight draw with A-3. So, alongside a reasonably strong made hand, this combination has sufficient blockers and backdoor equity to be potting here to try and maximize fold equity or get all the money into the middle.

Diagram 107 Hand Example 94 You are in the Small Blind with 7♥-6♣-5♥-4♣ a perfect double-suited rundown. You 3-bet after a Button open, they call and the flop comes 10♥7♠-5♣ (Diagram 108).

Diagram 108 This board is slightly more connected than the previous two examples but is still one that you want to pot frequently. The reason is that your range is mainly built on Broadway pairs and those hands will have decent equity on this board, but lack playability. You are also going to be potting with the hand that you currently hold. The main reason is that there are many weaker hands that can call, for example 89 combinations or any 10 with a straight draw. Many of these hands are behind in equity but will call a bet. If you check, those hands might check back, and you miss out on some value. This hand is not a good candidate to slowplay because there are a lot of turn cards that are very tricky to handle, for example a 9, J, 10, Q, or a K. On those cards, you can often be beaten by a set, a better two pair, or by a higher straight. Reducing the SPR will make the decisions on these turn cards much easier because you won’t have to think about river transitions. On many river runouts, it is going to be difficult to feel confident playing for stacks so you could easily be bluffed off your hand on the river. By betting pot, you deny the opportunity for your opponent to bluff on later streets and you get a lot of money in on the flop when you probably still have an equity advantage.

5) Paired Boards These boards are trivial to classify; they have a pair on the board. Of course,

the texture can still vary. For example, 6♠-6♥-5♠ is much more connected than Q♣-2♠-2♥. The 6♠-6♥-5♠ board is a better one for your opponent because of the runouts and because they will have more sixes in their preflop range. Q♣-2♠-2♥ is very dry and much better for your range, which includes many overpairs that are very strong on this board. Overall, you are c-betting 70-90% on these boards. The connected midboards are c-bet the least because you need more backup equity and blockers to justify a bet. On paired boards that are less connected, you have a significant polarity and equity advantage, which explains the higher c-bet frequency. Sizing You use a small, 33% pot sizing on these boards. The goal on paired boards is not to get all the money in because that requires a hand such as trips or better. The goal is to exploit the equity advantage you have by going for thin value with your overpairs. Hand Example 95 You are in the Small Blind with 10♦-10♥-8♦-7♥ and you 3-bet against a Button open. The Button calls and the flop comes 9♦-8♠-8♣ (Diagram 109).

Diagram 109 This is a well-connected paired board, so you should not c-bet much, right? Well, in general that is true. However, on this board, you will have a very

high c-bet frequency. The reason is that your 3-betting range mainly includes high Broadway pairs or Jack-high and double-suited rundowns and those rundowns are hitting this board very hard. There is certainly a case to be made for checking on this board if you have no straight or straight draw blocker, or backdoor flush draw. With 10♦-10♥-8♦-7♥, you are not blocking your opponent’s continuing range, which includes, for example, Kings, Queens and Jacks. At the same time, you are blocking part of your opponent’s stabbing range by holding the two tens and a seven. Therefore, you should bet this board with a sizing of 33%-pot. Hand Example 96 You are in the Small Blind with A♠-8♣-7♠-6♣. The Button opens, you 3-bet and the Button calls. The flop is 4♥-2♥-2♣ (Diagram 110).

Diagram 110 Whenever your opponent is very unlikely to hold trips on a paired board, you have a huge polarity advantage. You can exploit this by betting your full range for 33% pot. In this case, it is highly unlikely that your opponent is holding a 2, so you bet your full range for 33% pot. If the flop were 5♥-5♠-4♥, it would be more dangerous because your opponent will have 5-x much more than you do and, on this board, will also be holding more big combo draws.

So, on this latter board you have to be a little bit more selective and should consider playability and whether or not you are willing to build a pot. If you have an absolute airball, such as A♠-J♥-10♦-6♦ you are generally going to give up. Holding a backdoor flush draw and a flush draw blocker is not enough to bet; just check-fold.

6) Straight Boards These boards allow possible straights. Examples are 7♣-6♠-4♠, A♥-5♦-3♣ or K♣-Q♠-J♦. Note that the rank of the cards still matters; the higher the cards, the more often you are going to bet. On all the straightening boards, you should, on average, be c-betting about 30-40% of the time. On mid-low boards, you are more often going to check than on a Broadway board. On K-Q-J, you would be betting way more often than on 76-4. In fact, on many mid-low straightening boards, you should be checking your entire range because your opponent has an equity advantage and you will need a lot of protection. Checking your full range is a simplified strategy and can be adjusted based on your opponents. Sizing The best sizing is half-pot. Most of these boards are relatively dry because there are not usually many hand combinations that have a lot of equity against the nut straight. This means that you need less protection because there are fewer texture shifts to deal with. Remember that on low boards, you are checking your full range. Hand Example 97 You are in the Small Blind with A♠-J♣-10♠-8♣. The Button opens, you 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes 5♠-4♠-2♣ (Diagram 111).

Diagram 111 This is a board with three low cards and there is a flush draw possible. You should c-bet very infrequently on this board. You could even go for a full range check here as previously discussed. The reason is that your opponent is holding many more wraps and straights on this board. With A♠-J♣-10♠-8♣ you have no made hand value, but are holding the nut flush draw and a backdoor flush draw. When you consider the hands that your opponent is going to stab with, they probably include a 3, 4, 5 or a 6 or even complete air because this is a board that doesn’t hit your range well. So, you check, and your opponent decides to bet half-pot. With this hand, you have decent equity against your opponent’s range but the playability is quite weak as there are a lot of turn cards that are bad for your range as well as your actual hand. You probably have a lot of fold equity here since your opponent should have a lot of bluffs. Therefore, check-raising is the best option to maximize fold equity and to reduce the possibility of playing some problematic turn cards while OOP. Hand Example 98 You are in the Big Blind with K♠-K♦-10♣-9♠. The Button opens and you have a clear 3-bet. The Button calls and the flop comes 6♠-5♠-3♥ (Diagram 112).

Diagram 112 This is another example of a board where you have a very low c-bet frequency. Hands that want to bet this flop are some of the hands with the most equity that are sacrificing too much EV by going for a slowplay, for example A♠A♦-7♠-8♥. However, your actual hand isn’t strong enough to bet. If you bet and get called, there will be a lot of turn cards that are difficult to play. Therefore, you should check. Your opponent bets half-pot and you checkraise because there are not many good runouts for your hand but you do have substantial pot equity and fold equity. Hand Example 99 You are in the Small Blind with K♥-K♣-9♥-8♠. The Button opens, you 3-bet and the Button calls. The flop is 7♥-5♦-4♣ (Diagram 113).

Diagram 113 As this board is rainbow and because you don’t have any hands that are hitting it hard enough to bet, you should check your full range. So you check and your opponent decides to bet 12bb into a 24bb pot. Your opponent only has 75bb behind and you have plenty of outs to justify shoving all-in to try and maximize fold equity. Even if you run into a pair with a straight draw or two pair, you are doing fine. On this board, most players playing IP will stab very frequently, so you can assume you have a lot of fold equity.

7) Monotone Boards Monotone boards are difficult to play but are not too crucial for your bottom line, because they only occur about 5% of the time. On these boards, a flush is already possible. Examples are 5♦-4♦-2♦ and A♣-Q♣-5♣. Overall, you are betting only about 30-50% of the time on these boards. Many players are overly focused on the possibility of the flush and forget the board structure. It makes a huge difference if there is a straight possible, a pair on board, how many Broadway cards there are, etc. It is essential to recognize that although the board features three of the same suit, it still has a texture. Broadway cards are still better for the 3-bettor than low cards and Ace-high boards are still better than Broadway boards. A solid percentage of these boards are very static and often you will be very showdown-bound and passive, meaning you want to get to showdown as cheaply as possible. You have the big overpairs and usually the better two

pairs and therefore getting to showdown is ideal. Sizing You use a small 33% pot-sizing. The reason for such a small sizing is that the nuts rarely change (only when the board pairs), so you don’t need much protection. If you have a flush you don’t need much protection and can still leverage your stack size over three streets. Hand Example 100 You are in the Small Blind with K♥-K♣-6♣-4♥. The Button opens, you 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes A♣-J♣-5♣ (Diagram 114).

Diagram 114 You have flopped the nuts but remember that you still have to pay attention to the board structure. This is an Ace-high monotone board, which means that it is better for your range than for your opponent’s. Even on monotone boards, the higher the rank of the cards, the higher frequency with which you bet. The next step is to consider the cards that you are blocking and unblocking. In this case, you are not blocking an A, J, or a 5 which makes your hand much better to bet because there are more hands you can get value from. So, you should go ahead and bet 33% pot here. Hand Example 101 You are in the Small Blind with A♦-10♣-9♦-7♠. You 3-bet against the Button

open-raise, they call and the flop comes 6♥-5♥-2♥ (Diagram 115).

Diagram 115 This board is not good to c-bet because of the rank of the cards. On this board, your checking range needs a lot of protection because you don’t hit this board much with two pairs, trips, and straights. So, you have to be selective when it comes to betting. A hand such as the one you hold benefits from getting a free card because you can hit your gutshot if an 8 rolls off on the turn. You also don’t block your opponent’s calling range and you don’t have a hand that is capable of profitably betting multiple streets because you don’t block any high hearts. Given the blockers in your hand are not reducing the chance that your opponent is going to fold, you should just check-fold. Hand Example 102 You are in the Big Blind with K♠-10♠-10♥-7♥. The Button opens, you 3-bet, they call and the flop comes 8♥-5♥-3♥ (Diagram 116). This is another board on which your range needs a lot of protection because you don’t have many strong hands on this flop and you don’t have many great runouts either. Therefore you want to check frequently. Your hand is not able to bet for value on three streets, so it’s a good candidate to check to protect your checking range. On this board, your lower flushes are going to slowplay a lot more than the higher flushes. You are missing a lot more value by failing to stack your opponent when you have a very strong

hand, than by when you have a weak or medium flush. Also, you don’t want to bet all your flushes because then your checking range would be empty and very vulnerable. So in this case, you should add this hand to your checkcalling range.

Diagram 116

Guess the Frequency To wrap up this chapter, we will do some practice to train your intuition. Identify the type of board and then decide how often you think you have to bet after 3-betting the Small Blind versus the Button preflop. 1) K♠-J♣-6♦ This is a rainbow Broadway board and on this board you are betting 95% of the time. Remember that when Broadway boards are very wet, you are betting less often because you have to be more selective with your sidecards. When the board is not two-toned, you can bet much more often because you have a big polarity and equity advantage. Also, you don’t have to fear flush draws that the opponent could hold. 2) 9♣-3♣-2♠ This is a mid-low dry board, although you might wonder why exactly it is

dry. This board is two-tone and has some connectivity but the connectivity is based around a 2 and a 3. This does not count as “wet” because your opponent will rarely connect with these cards and will not have many 4-5-6 combos in their preflop range. If the board were something like 7♣-8♣-2♠, then the situation is quite different. However, 9♣-3♣-2♠ is very good for the 3-bettor because your opponent has very few sets, two pairs, and big straight draws, so overpairs have a lot of equity on this board. Therefore you can cbet around 80% of the time, and use a pot sizing. 3) 10♦-9♥-8♠ This is a straight board and is very bad for your range so you only bet 10% of the time. Your opponent will very often have two pair or better on this flop. If the board were higher, for example K-Q-J, you would be betting much more often. If the board were lower, you would be checking your full range. 4) 7♦-3♣-3♦ This paired board is rather good for you because your opponent’s preflop range doesn’t hit the 3 very well. Therefore, your c-bet frequency is 95% and you use a 33%-pot sizing.

Main Takeaways ♦ Be aware of the board texture! Learn and identify the seven different board textures. ♦ If a board is static you need less protection, which means that you should use smaller bet sizings. If the board is very wet, your range needs more protection and you should use larger bet sizings. ♦ You should c-bet often when: ♦ The board is good for your range; Ace-high, Broadway, very low disconnected ♦ Neither player hits the board. ♦ On monotone and straightening boards, keep the rank of the cards in mind. Don’t just focus on the fact that straights and flushes are possible.

3-bet Pots OOP on the Turn/River Introduction When you are playing a 3-bet pot OOP, there are only three relevant pathways to get to the turn. 1) You bet the flop and got called. By now the SPR is already very small, usually around 1.5, and you should mostly maximize value and protection with your value hands by betting pot. This is especially true on dynamic boards where a flush or a full house is not yet possible. As the opponent called the flop, there is a decent chance they will stack-off with worse hands when you bet the turn. 2) You check-called the flop. In this instance your opponent represented a strong hand on the flop by betting. You should almost always check the turn unless it changes the texture massively in your favor. 3) You both checked. Your opponent is mainly playing a capped range. At this point, it makes sense to start value betting thinner. Hands such as bare A-A-x-x that didn’t want to bet the flop, now get to bet for half-pot to generate some value and protection. Bluffing or semibluffing can also make a lot of sense as the opponent didn’t show much interest in the pot when they checked back on the flop. We will now consider multiple hand examples for all three different situations by which we could have arrived at the turn.

Turn Transitions After C-betting the Flop Hand Example 103 You are in the Small Blind with A♣-9♣-9♠-8♠. You face a min-raise from the Button, 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes K♦-10♣-8♣ (Diagram 117). Usually, in 3-bet pots, the SPR is around 3.5-4, but because the Button min-raised, the SPR is about 6, which puts the OOP player at a more

significant disadvantage. With the higher SPR, you are less minded to use a pot-sizing because you will have to deal with more transitions. You will have to play more turns and more rivers OOP, so you would rather keep the pot small while there remains uncertainty with regard to the runouts.

Diagram 117 Therefore, when the SPR is greater than 4, you should be using a smaller sizing. Err towards using a 66% pot or a 75% pot-sizing rather than full pot, which would be the baseline bet sizing strategy on this board. The sizing you choose depends on the board structure. The wetter the board, the more likely you should be to use a 75% sizing. On K♦-10♣-8♣, the board is very wet so a 75% sizing is appropriate. With an SPR of 6, you should be paying a little more attention to the playability of your hand. Blockers become more important and hands that don’t have many great turn and river transitions are less valuable. This is because you can’t push your equity on the flop by getting all the money in. With your hand, you don’t hold a backdoor flush draw and you don’t hold a straight draw. Therefore, the turn could prove difficult to play. This is less of a problem when the SPR is only 3.5 because then you can use a pot-size cbet on the flop, which will leave you with easy turn decisions. However, this

case is different. The SPR on the turn will be greater and therefore you want to be more aware of (backdoor) playability. If you were holding A♣-9♣-9♦-8♦, you would favor betting over checking because you have more future playability. But with your current hand that doesn’t have the backdoor flush draw, the difference in EV between checking and betting is quite minimal. If your opponent plays a wide range on the Button or if he folds a lot in 3-bet pots, then be more inclined to bet, and otherwise check-call. In this case, you decide to bet and the opponent calls. The turn brings (K♦-10♣-8♣)-Q♠. At this point, there are a few crucial things to consider. First, the SPR is around 2, which means you still have some fold equity. Your opponent could have a weak two pair on the flop and is hoping for a blank. However, the Queen is not a good card for these weak made hands. At the same time, you still have equity against any hand with the gutshot and nut flush draw. You also have blockers with the two nines and an Ace. This is a good moment to apply more pressure and going for a pot-size turn barrel is the best option. Hand Example 104 You are in the Small Blind with A♥-A♠-7♣-3♣. The Button (a recreational player) open-raises and you assume that is with a very wide and aggressive range. You 3-bet, they call and the flop is A♣-K♥-2♦ (Diagram 118).

Diagram 118

You are playing at an SPR of about 3.5. As you know by now, on Ace-high board with an SPR of 3.5-4, you are going to use a half-pot sizing and a full-pot sizing. However, don’t think that you have to limit yourself by only using the standard bet sizings. If you believe that another sizing is more profitable in a particular situation, then go for it! If you think your opponent will continue extremely light against small bets, then you might be inclined to use a smaller sizing for value. With this particular hand, there is no need to go for a smaller sizing because you don’t have or block any straight draws. So, it’s more likely that your opponent will continue anyway. But keep in mind that you are free to play around with the sizing you use. On the other hand, let’s say that you are playing against a very tight range, such as a 20% EP range. Then you might want to use bigger sizings because that tight range will include a lot of K-K combinations and you want to make sure to stack middle set. By betting small, you allow your opponent to get away from such a hand on scary runouts. Keep in mind the difference between playing against wide and tight ranges. Against wide ranges, try to make your opponent float, especially if you have redraws. Against a tight range, try to stack and cooler middle set. In this case, you don’t have the best redraws and your opponent is also pretty aggressive and probably a little bit spewy, so they might continue slightly too wide. You bet half-pot and your opponent calls. The turn is the 3♥. The board is now A♣-K♥-2♦-3♥, introducing the backdoor flush draw and here we want to decide if we’re going to try to trap. When you want to trap, you should think about how likely it is that your opponent is going to stab, how much protection you need and how bad it is if you face a check back on the turn. Let’s say that you had a hand such as A♣A♥-Q♥-J♣. In that case, it’s very unlikely that your opponent will continue and you need absolutely no protection. Therefore, checking could make a lot of sense, especially against an over-aggressive player. With A♥-A♠-7♣-3♣, it doesn’t make as much sense to check because you are holding the nut flush draw blocker, which makes it rather unlikely that you will face a stab from a merged hand such as top pair with a nut flush draw. At the same time, if your opponent has a King, a gutshot and a flush draw and you pot the turn, they are in a very uncomfortable position because you can have the nut flush draw, in which case their flush draw will not be

good. So, there is a good argument here to gain some protection by double barreling the turn, and also you want to make sure that you stack your opponent if they have a hand such as K-K or A-K. This was an actual hand I played and I bet 50% pot on the turn. In hindsight, I think that it would have been better to pot the turn to make sure that I can stack K-K and A-K while also making sure that I get maximum value from combo draws if they do want to continue or maximizing my fold equity against some weaker draws. In this case, my opponent shoved all-in against my 50%-pot size. I called and won a $1,000 pot against his turned two pair with A♦-J♠-9♦-3♠. Hand Example 105 You are in the Small Blind with A♦-Q♠-9♦-9♠. The Button, who is a very wide and spewy player, opens with a pot sizing, you 3-bet and they call. The flop comes 6♦-4♦-4♥ (Diagram 119), which is a board on which you should be a bit more selective with your bet frequency because the opponent has more trips and generally has better runouts.

Diagram 119 Therefore, you have to be careful about building a pot. Generally speaking, it is better to be cautious with hands that have a difficult time on many different turns and rivers. With A♦-Q♠-9♦-9♠, you don’t have to be too careful because, in the event you bet and get raised, you can call or even re-

raise. Your hand has equity against almost any hand but the runouts are not too good. You might get your opponent to fold hands with some showdown value which would be very profitable. Therefore, bet 33% pot. If you had the same hand without the flush draw, you would have to be more cautious because you wouldn’t want to get raised and you are not looking to get all the money in on the flop because you have almost have no equity against a 4. The turn is the 8♠ which makes the board (4♥-4♦-6♦)-8♠. Now you have to decide if you want to double-barrel or check. You didn’t get raised on the flop so, most likely, your opponent does not have a four or better. And by double-barreling, there are a lot of hands that you can get to fold that are better than your hand, such as tens, Jacks, Queens, and possibly even Kings. Against a double-barrel, many players will be folding these overpairs. So this could be a good hand to double-barrel on the turn to make higher pairs fold and if you get called, you still have equity. When this hand occurred I decided to go for a check-call. In hindsight, I don’t like this idea. The river is the K♥, making the board (4♥-4♦-6♦-8♠)-K♥. After two checks the opponent showed up with 8♣-10♣-10♦-J♠. This is a hand that might have folded to a pot bet on the turn.

Turn Transitions After the Flop Play is Check-call Hand Example 106 You are sitting in the Small Blind with A♣-J♦-10♠-9♣ and the Button, who is a strong regular, open-raises. You 3-bet, the Button calls, and the flop comes 9♠-8♥-8♦ (Diagram 120).

Diagram 120 This hand is played at 250bb deep, so the SPR on the flop is about 10. On this board, you flop top pair, and an open-ended straight draw. You are blocking a big part of your opponent’s raising range on this flop since you are holding a top pair blocker and you are blocking many wraps that your opponent could potentially use to either raise, or call. So with this hand, you are minimizing the chance that your opponent is going to call or even raise if you bet. So you have a lot of fold equity in this situation. At the same time, if you do get raised, you can call because you have backup with your straight draw. Your current showdown value isn’t great, so you benefit massively if your opponent folds any showdown value. For these reasons, you bet the flop for 33% pot and your opponent calls. The turn is the 2♦, giving a board of (9♠-8♥-8♦)-2♦. You decide to check because you haven’t improved your equity and your opponent is likely to be holding a decent hand at this point. Your opponent now pots the turn. The main thing to consider is your equity. Against all the hands that include an 8, you have a very small amount of equity. You are also blocking your opponent’s bluffing range by holding a straight draw and top pair. For those reasons, you should fold against this turn pot-size bet. Hand Example 107 You are in the Big Blind with A♠-A♥-J♦-9♠. The Button opens with a pot sizing, you 3-bet, they call and the flop comes 9♦-6♠-4♦ (Diagram 121).

Diagram 121 You are slightly deeper than 100bb, so the SPR is about 5. On this flop, you are not going to have a very high c-bet frequency because this board features three low to middle ranking cards that you are not going to hit that well. Furthermore, the runouts are also not going to be very beneficial for your preflop range. You have to protect your checking range and you are going to utilize some of the overpairs with additional backup such as flush draws, straight draws with backdoor flush draws, to check-raise the flop. If you have a lot of raw equity, without great playability on future runouts, it is more likely that you should check-raise the flop. The more playability you have, the more likely it is that you should start betting to increase the size of the pot. There are also some hands with good blockers that cannot check-call given the lack of playability and raw equity; these hands are often going to bet-fold. The hand A♠-A♥-J♦-9♠ is quite turn-determined. You have a backdoor flush draw, two pair outs, or you might hit trips. At the same time, you are not strong enough to stack off on the flop, especially at this SPR. If the SPR was 3.5, you could justifying potting on the flop given your blockers. Here the SPR is greater and therefore you are better off checking. If you bet and get raised, you can easily be bluffed off your equity on future streets. So you check and the opponent bets half-pot. Your hand has too much

equity to fold, but the SPR is too high to consider check-raising and getting all the money in. So you check-call. Before we consider the turn, realize that there are some turn cards on which you should be leading. The main reason is that the board will be very draw-heavy, and there’s a high chance that your opponent will check back. At the same time, the river SPR will be pretty low when you decide to pot the turn. On cards such as an Ace, a J, or the 2♠, you should be potting because you won’t get away from the hand anyway and if your opponent is behind, they will often check back and take a free card. However, if they are ahead, they will bet. So you are not gaining much by checking, you are just giving away free cards. Check-calling the flop then betting the turn is sometimes a viable option if you are significantly improving your equity and fold equity. Hand Example 108 The turn is the 8♦, which makes the board (9♦-6♠-4♦)-8♦ (Diagram 122).

Diagram 122 Pretty much all the draws got there but you are still holding some minor showdown value. On this turn your hand and range didn’t improve, so you should check and fold against a bet. However, plays goes check-check. The river is the A♣ and the board now is 9♦-6♠-4♦-8♦-A♣. You have made

top set, but there are many hands out there that could have you beat. You check and your opponent bets 33%-pot. In this situation, you should fold your hand because almost all the draws got there. The 8♦ made a lot of straights and flushes possible and it is not likely that your opponent would turn many made hands into a bluff on this runout. Your opponent is telling you that they have a non-nutted hand such as a straight and a flush draw but still had plenty of equity and outs. They then went for the pot control play on the turn. This story is consistent with the river bet sizing. In combination with the lack of natural bluffs that your opponent can have in this spot should make you want to fold this hand. Hand Example 109 You are in the Small Blind with K♣-K♦-Q♦-3♠ and the Button opens. You 3bet, the Button calls and the flop comes J♣-9♦-7♠ (Diagram 123).

Diagram 123 As mentioned previously, these Jack-high boards are not too bad for your preflop range and you should have a relatively high c-betting range on this flop. With K♣-K♦-Q♦-3♠, you could also profitably check-call given your equity and the fact that you are not necessarily blocking your opponent’s raising range such as sets and two pairs with open-ended straight draws or gutshots. Unless your opponent is very passive, you can c-bet here because your hand needs some protection and you can get value from many weaker

hands. Hand Example 110 The turn is the Q♣, making the board (J♣-9♦-7♠)-Q♣ (Diagram 124). At this point, you have blockers to the nut straight (K-10) as well as a future flush blocker with the K♣. On the turn the SPR is less than 2, which is going to limit your ability to bluff successfully here. However, more importantly, you don’t have a 10 in your hand. The 10 is a very valuable card for your opponent because they heavily block our value-betting range when they have a ten. Therefore they are more likely to hero call. You are holding two Kings, but Kings are way less important cards to be holding in this scenario than a 10. You don’t have a lot of fold equity and you will often be called down by a hand such as J-10-9, or the opponent could even shove with such a hand against a turn bet. In this situation, checkfolding is the way to go.

Diagram 124

Turn Transitions After the Flop Play is Checkcheck When the IP player checks back on the flop, it often implies that their range is capped because most of their strong holdings would want to build a big pot. The OOP player isn’t capped because the they have a lot of strong hands

in their checking range that were looking to check-raise or trap. This means that often, when heading to the turn, the OOP player is uncapped and has a range advantage. They can therefore bet thinner for value and bluff more aggressively. Hand Example 111 You are in the Small Blind with A♦-A♠-K♥-7♦. The Button opens, you 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes 6♦-5♥-3♠ (Diagram 125).

Diagram 125 This is a very light board which shouldn’t hit either range especially well. However, your opponent will have a few more strong hands on this board then you do. On this flop, you should check almost all your hands because you won’t have too many strong ones. Your hand with the 7 and the backdoor flush draw is a hand that you should check-call because you have equity, important removals and your opponent’s preflop range isn’t interacting with this board very well. You check and your opponent checks back. Hand Example 112 The turn is the J♦, which makes the board (6♦-5♥-3♠)-J♦ (Diagram 126). At this point, you are still blocking the straight, but more importantly, the opponent capped their range tremendously by checking back on the flop. Therefore, you can make a value bet on the turn. It isn’t necessary to bet too large on this turn because you want to get called by weaker flush draws,

weaker overpairs and potentially by a Jack. Therefore, betting half-pot is the way to go.

Diagram 126 Hand Example 113 You are in the Small Blind with K♣-Q♣-9♦-7♦. The Button opens and you 3bet. This hand is undoubtedly on the marginal side when it comes to 3-betting because of the low diamond suit and minimal connectivity, but it’s still fine. You could also call this hand or even fold if you are facing a very tight Button open-raising range. In this instance, you decide to 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop is J♥-9♣7♠ (Diagram 127).

Diagram 127 As you know, this is quite a good board for the preflop aggressor because you have a lot of double-suited Queen-high, Jack-high, and 10-high rundowns in your 3-bet range. Your specific holding here has a lot of value because you are blocking many good hands. You hold two pair, meaning that you block many of the set combinations and also have some additional equity in the form of an inside straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. This is a good combination to bet, but you decide to check and the opponent checks back. Hand Example 114 The turn is the 4♦, making the board (J♥-9♣-7♠)-4♦ (Diagram 128).

Diagram 128 As your opponent checked back on the flop, you can exclude many of their strong hands as they would likely bet those on the flop. Therefore you can go for a thin value bet on the turn. Using a pot-size bet is not so good for the OOP player. You can still delay c-bet a lot of merged hands on this turn after missing the opportunity to check-raise on the flop. On this turn many of your medium-strength hands don’t want to use a pot sizing because then you are building a big pot with a hand that isn’t strong enough to play a big pot. Betting with a 50% pot sizing to protect your hand, and to get value from, for example, weak straight draws such as 5-6 is the way to go. So you decide to bet half-pot and the opponent calls. The river is the K♠, making the board (J♥-9♣-7♠-4♦)-K♠. At this point, you have a reasonably strong two pair but your hand is a bluff catcher. You check and the opponent bets $220 into a $480 pot. Although you are getting a good price here, I think that you should fold. The main reason is that you have no straight blockers. There is a possibility that your opponent slowplayed 10-8 but could also have a hand such as K-K, K-J, or Q-10. For your hand to be a profitable call, your opponent would need to turn the 5-6 combo’s into a bluff. However, few players play their 5-6 combos aggressively enough on the river. You do block the main hand they are representing, which is Q-10. However, I believe most players are not bluffing enough in this situation. If you know that your opponent is capable of

bluffing the river at a high frequency, then calling would be better. Hand Example 115 You are in the Big Blind with A♦-A♥-8♣-3♦. The Button, who is a relatively tight player, opens for full pot. Against a tight range, Aces do exceptionally well because you are often going to run into a high Broadway pair which you are crushing. So you 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes 9♣-7♠-4♣ (Diagram 129).

Diagram 129 On this board, you should check to check-fold. The bare minimum that you need to c-bet is the same hand with the A♠, i.e. the backdoor nut flush blocker. Alternatively the same hand with the A♣, which would block the nut flush draw. Always realize that on these wet middle boards, you want to protect your checking range, so if you do have a hand such as a bare two pair, or an overpair and a flush draw, then you might want to consider checkraising. A lot of hands that don’t have great playability but have a lot of raw equity are good candidates to check-raise. This is because it helps you protect your checking range and you can avoid playing turns at high SPRs. However, with this specific hand, check-folding is best. So you check the flop and the opponent checks back.

Hand Example 116 The turn is the 2♠, making the board (9♣-7♠-4♣)-2♠ (Diagram 130).

Diagram 130 On this turn, you can allow yourself to bet merged because your opponent has capped their range by checking back on the flop. Furthermore, the 2♠ shouldn’t change much because this card is not often in their range. You have a gutshot, which improves your equity and, although you don’t have a flush draw, you do have the 8♣, which adds a bit of fold equity. At this point, you should bet, and you want to do so by using a pot-sizing to maximize your fold equity because you have poor river playability. You pot and the opponent calls. The river is the J♦, which makes the board (9♣-7♠-4♣-2♠)-J♦. You have some showdown value and are winning, for example, against an overpair with a spade or club draw. But you don’t have enough showdown value to bet. You check, the opponent checks back and, unfortunately, they are holding two pair with 4♦-3♥-7♦-8♥.

Main Takeaways ♦ Always consider how the preflop ranges of both players influence

postflop ranges and actions. ♦ When you want to trap, you should think about how likely it is that your opponent is going to stab, how much protection you need and how bad it is if you face a check back on the turn. ♦ When you get to the turn with your flop range, you have to think about which part of your range you will continue with, given the turn, your opponent’s range and what’s likely to happen on the river. Your river range benefits from some key bluffs and your turn strategy should include continuing with some of them while giving up with others. ♦ Remember that in making decisions on the river you need to consider all the cards you have and take into account removal effects and blockers. This will allow you to bluff and bluff-catch effectively.

3-bet Pots IP Introduction The sections that discussed our strategy in 3-bet pots OOP included a lot of theory. In the sections that cover 3-bet pots played IP, we will handle things slightly differently. We are going to cover a minimal amount of theory and will mainly be discussing hand examples. We will also not discuss the theory separately for the flop, turn and river strategy. The reason is that we have already thoroughly explained the theory of 3-bet pots in the OOP section and many of the concepts also apply when it comes to playing 3-bet pots IP. By now, you understand the fundamentals of playing single-raised pots and 3-bet pots and, therefore, I am mainly going to be breaking down a lot of hand examples. However, we need to start with a little theory. The main differences between playing 3-bet pots IP and OOP are: ♦ The IP player has a more polarized c-betting strategy, as a free card is available. ♦ The IP player often uses a smaller sizing in 3-bet pots, such as half-pot, as playing IP over multiple streets with a polarized betting range is not a problem. ♦ The IP player needs to include a few traps in the check back range. Otherwise, the checking range becomes too weak.

Hand Examples Hand Example 117 You are on the Button with A♠-K♥-10♣-3♠. The Cutoff open-raises with a pot sizing. If you remember correctly, this hand is supposed to call preflop as it is nutty. However, this situation is special because the Cutoff has extremely wide opening ranges. Often when someone has extremely wide raising ranges, they are going to make a lot of mistakes postflop because their ranges are out of whack and they also might not have the best game fundamentals. You decide to 3-bet to isolate, create a heads-up pot and increase EV. If the

raiser were tighter, it would be best to just call. If there is a weak player in the Big Blind, a call is also possible. In this instance, you 3-bet and the Cutoff calls. The flop is 10♥-5♠ -4♦ (Diagram 131). This is a mid-low dry board. On this board, you have stronger overpairs that are beating your opponent’s overpairs and one pair holdings. Also, there aren’t many hands in your opponent’s range that have our overpairs beat. So, on this board you have a polarity and equity advantage but many of your overpairs won’t have great playability on future runouts. To exploit these advantages, you use a pot-size bet on this board. Given the profile of this specific player, they would not raise-fold any Broadway pairs preflop, which means that this is a good spot to pot. They will have a tough time with many of those overpairs because they are doing so poorly against Aces, which is a significant part of your total range. Your opponent checks, you pot and they fold.

Diagram 131 Hand Example 118 You are on the Button with A♠-A♦-6♠-4♥. The Cutoff, a loose-aggressive regular, raises. You 3-bet, they call and the flop comes 8♦-7♦-6♣ (Diagram 132).

Diagram 132 This flop is bad for your preflop range. You will have some double-suited rundowns that smash this board but the biggest part of your 3-betting range (overpairs) is doing poorly. The question now is, should you bet? Do you have sufficient blockers with the 6♠ and A♦ in order to bet? On this board the OOP player, in this case the Cutoff, is supposed to lead out with a bet around 40% of the time. Most players don’t have a 40% leading range here because they have a hard time identifying the mediumstrength hands that they should lead-fold on this board. An example of this would be a hand such as K♦-K♣-5♣-2♣. This hand can’t check-call, it has some relevant blockers with the K♦ and 5♣ and also has the backdoor club draw. Combining these points to a lead-fold. Leading with this hand feels very counterintuitive. There are a bunch of examples like this hand in a GTO leading range from your opponent. However, most people check them which means that as the IP player, you are going to have less fold equity when you c-bet because many medium-strength hands that should be leading are check-calling or check-raising. On the 8♦-7♦-6♣ board, A♠-A♦-6♠-4♥ has decent equity against some of your opponent’s hands, such as most Kings, Queens, and Jacks. If you check back and the turn is a diamond, you can still represent the nut flush because a lot of your nut flush draws are checking the flop. However, this hand has some blockers but it doesn’t have much playability and you can’t continue against a bet on many different turn cards. You could

make an argument for betting half-pot here (and fold to a raise) or to check behind. This hand is not strong enough to pot-size c-bet and stack off on this board. All in all, you can make a reasonable argument for betting because you have a low straight draw with the 4-6 and because you lack future streets playability. If you get raised, you are probably far behind and can easily fold. Your opponent can easily take the pot away from you on many turn cards because there are very few turn cards on which you can call. Therefore, a half-pot bet is best. A hand that has a nuttier distribution and more incentive to check back would be A♦-A♠-9♥-6♠. This hand doesn’t want to bet on the flop because it has trouble playing against a raise and there are more reasons to see a turn card. Hand Example 119 You are on the Button with 9♠-8♠-8♥-6♥. The Cutoff, who has been playing a very straightforward game so far, opens. Your hand flops quite smooth but has no nuttiness, so you decide to 3-bet to minimize the risk of playing a multiway pot. Your opponent calls and the flop comes K♦-5♠-2♣ (Diagram 133).

Diagram 133 In this hand, you can make a very exploitable adjustment.

This board is quite static and your opponent will not have many strong hands. This player is very straightforward so if you bet, they will continue with any King, but fold almost all hands that don’t include a King, regardless of what sizing is used. Therefore, you bet 33% pot and the opponent folds. Normally, it is important to understand standard bet sizing strategies. However, remember that you always want to keep an open mind to be creative and use other sizings when it appears likely to be more profitable. Hand Example 120 You are on the Button with Q♠-10♠-9♥-6♥. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the Cutoff calls and the flop comes J♣-6♠-3♥ (Diagram 134). This hand started a little bit deeper, and the SPR is now about 4.5. This is a low dry board on which neither player has many good hands. There are not many draws possible and you have a 6, meaning that you block many possible two pair combinations and sets. You have a lot of fold equity here, so a half-pot bet is reasonable. You also have an equity advantage on this board because you have stronger overpairs. For those reasons, a half-pot bet should get a lot of folds. On this board, you are unlikely to get check-raised since there are very few draws out there. The most likely hand that your opponent would be check-raising is J-J, against which you have terrible equity. So here a half-pot bet, planning to fold against a check-raise, is fine.

Diagram 134

Hand Example 121 You are on the Button with A♦-Q♦-Q♣-4♣. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the Cutoff calls and the flops comes K♠-10♦-7♥ (Diagram 135).

Diagram 135 On this board, the OOP player will frequently have hands such as top two pair, top pair, a wrap and sets. You have to be careful here. You have some showdown value and you benefit from seeing a turn card because you have future blockers and nutted outs. If you bet and get raised, you have to fold quite a strong hand. So, this hand should be checked back. Hand Example 122 The turn is the 3♦, making the board (K♠-10♦-7♥)-3♦ (Diagram 136).

Diagram 136 This card is a nice one for your opponent to go for a delayed turn checkraise since some of their made hands would rather get all-in on the turn than play a river OOP at a SPR of 1-2. You would be in a very tough spot facing a check-raise while holding the nut flush draw and a gutshot; usually you would have to fold and in that case you would be folding a lot of equity. But in this instance there is no reason to bet. You already have showdown value, you are not making many better hands fold and if you get check-raised you are in trouble. These problems are easy to avoid by just checking back. The turn goes check-check. The river brings the 10♣, making the board 10♦-7♥-K♠-3♦-10♣. Your opponent bets 25%-pot and you have a reasonable hand to fold. With Aces or with a King, you could certainly call but Queens should be folded here. When you are facing this sizing after the flop and turn have been checked through, your opponent is very likely to be value-betting. Your preflop range will contain 10-x, it will contain K-x and it will frequently contain Aces. Postflop you would play those hands the same way so your opponent must be careful here with their bluffs. In this spot, you could have a ten and a straight draw, a King and a straight draw without a backdoor flush draw or you could have pocket Aces. All those hands are better bluff-catchers than A♦-Q♦-Q♣-4♣. Therefore you can fold in this spot without being exploitable.

Hand Example 123 You are on the Button with 10♥-10♦-8♦-7♥, and the Cutoff opens. This is a great hand to 3-bet because it doesn’t play well multiway and can call 4-bets. So you 3-bet, the Cutoff calls, the flop comes K♥-8♥-2♥ and your opponent checks (Diagram 137).

Diagram 137 You have flopped a flush, but not a high one. This makes it hard to go for three streets of value because if your opponent calls three times, you are often beat. You are also blocking some of the two pairs and set combinations by holding an 8, which makes it more likely that your opponent holds a higher flush when calling, so checking back is indicated. Hand Example 124 The turn is the 7♠, making the board (K♥-8♥-2♥)-7♠ (Diagram 138). Your opponent bets about 75% pot. This is a tricky spot because I think most players generally under-bluff here, especially with this sizing. From a GTO perspective, your opponent would be required to be bluffing with hands with some random hearts and not only with hands with just the A♥ or the Q♥ for you to be able to call profitably. Not enough people play those kinds of holdings with sufficient aggression.

Diagram 138 There is no way you can fold this hand against one bet as you are removing some flushes and you also have full house outs in the event you are up against a higher flush, so calling is correct. Although folding this hand would be very exploitable, you have to be cautious calling down every single time. Although always calling down is probably the right line to take from a GTO standpoint, this is a spot where people are under-bluffing so you can make an exploitative adjustment. The river is the 8♣, making the board (2♥-K♥-8♥-7♠)-8♣. You have rivered a full house! Your opponent bets $5 into a $315 pot, which you can treat as a check. You should raise with your full house, using about a 75% pot sizing to get maximum value from flushes. Your opponent snap calls with K♣-Q♥-J♥-3♣. Hand Example 125 You are on the Button with 8♥-7♥-6♦-5♦. The Cutoff raises, you 3-bet, the Cutoff calls, and the flop comes Q♦-10♥-7♦ (Diagram 139). You have flopped bottom pair and a weak flush draw. You have a medium-strength hand with relatively weak playability because the low flush draw is low and the two pair outs are poor. Even the straight outs are nonnutted. This is an excellent hand to check back even though you have a flush draw.

Diagram 139 If you do check back and the turn is a diamond, your opponent will have trouble folding against a bet because most flush draws would have bet the flop at low SPRs. You are also not going to have that many great bluffcatchers when you do check back because a lot of good hands, especially at an SPR of around 3.5, want to get the money in on the flop. This is a good hand to check back because you are not sacrificing too much value by not building a pot and stacking off and it helps us to protect your checking range on certain runouts. Hand Example 126 You are on the Button with A♥-A♣-10♥-5♥. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the Cutoff calls and the flop comes 7♠-6♥-4♥ (Diagram 140). On this straightening board, the preflop caller should have a leading range of about 44% but most players are leading the flop at a much lower frequency. This means that their checking range is generally going to be stronger. They are usually going to continue more often after checking because they are not going to lead as many strong hands such as sets or combo draws. They are more often going for the check-raise or the check-call with those types of holdings, which influences your c-betting frequency.

Diagram 140 Your hand A♥-A♣-10♥-5♥ is blocking the straight, you hold the nut flush draw and you have three hearts. Generally, hands that have a few good blockers and that have equity against the all-in range, are betting at a high frequency if betting pot is part of the strategy on that board. In this situation, many turn cards are tough to play. You are not holding a straight draw on this straightening board, and you block part of your opponent’s bluffing range by holding three hearts. By betting full pot on the flop, you maximize fold equity and, by lowering the SPR, you will set yourself up for easier turn decisions. You pot the flop and your opponent folds. Hand Example 127 You are on the Button with A♣-A♦-4♣-3♣. The Cutoff opens, you 3-bet, the Button calls and the flop comes 9♦-5♣-3♦ (Diagram 141). Here you have the combination of a lot of blockers combined with equity, but you lack in playability and relevant future blockers. Although you have the nut flush blocker, it is very difficult to make any flush fold in a 3-bet pot when the SPR on the turn is something in the region of 2. So holding the A♦ is not very relevant here. It is best to bet full pot on the flop to maximize fold equity while holding quite good equity in case your opponent shoves.

Diagram 141

Main Takeaways ♦ Always think about playability. ♦ Think about hands with which you prefer playing a three-street game plan, as opposed to a one- or two-street game plan. ♦ Don’t overvalue a future blocker. The SPR on turns and rivers will be very low and you will have a hard time making your opponent fold a good hand, even if you hold strong blockers. ♦ When playing IP, use a more polarized strategy than OOP because you have more control over the hand and you want to maximize your positional advantage. ♦ When playing IP, You are betting smaller and less frequently.

09

Postflop Theory: Multiway Pots Introduction The same principles covered so far will apply when discussing multiway pots with a few adjustments. So what is different? First of all, it is more likely someone else has hit the flop. This means you have less fold equity and will face resistance more often than in heads-up pots. The SPR is lower. Instead of the typical 11-13 SPRs for heads-up singleraised pots, multiway single-raised pots have SPRs of around 8-9 for 3-way pots and 6-7 for 4-way pots. These SPRs are great for the OOP player to put in a check-raise in order to avoid playing at a positional disadvantage. Overall, you still have two or three streets to play in single-raised multiway pots so, when OOP at these SPRs, you need to check more often. Many of your strong hands also go into your checking range, in order to protect it and because you often want to check-raise with it instead of check-calling. Regarding 3-bet pots. Instead of an SPR of about 3.5-4 for a heads-up 3bet pot, you now have SPRs of about 2, for 3-way, 3-bet pots. At an SPR of 2, you have to employ a balancing act, guaranteeing you realize your equity but trying to not get into situations where you are badly dominated versus one or, worse, multiple opponents. Another important point is the “sandwich effect”. Playing postflop in multiway pots, any player can find themselves “sandwiched” between a bettor and a player behind still left to act who can potentially raise or checkraise. When you bet in a 3-way pot, the player next to act is now stuck between you and other players, and therefore their threshold for continuing in

the hand is much greater than if they were facing just one opponent.

Multiway 3-Bet Pots Let’s first discuss multiway 3-bet pots because we’ve already often discussed what is important in low SPR scenarios. A 3-way 3-bet pot SPR is typically around 2 and for this chapter we will consider the c-betting strategy for the Big Blind after squeezing a preflop pot versus the Cutoff opener and Button caller. This is the most common 3-way, 3-bet pot in the game. Then we’ll review a hand in-depth from multiple player perspectives.

C-betting in a 3-way 3-bet Pot: BB Squeeze Versus Cutoff RFI and Button Call It’s important to remember that hands in 3-bet ranges are often more defined than in single-raised pots. The Big Blind is squeezing around 8% of hands here, while the Cutoff was originally opening around 32% and continues against a 3-bet with about half of those, so 16% of hands. The Button originally calls about 15% versus the Cutoff and calls in position closing the preflop action with almost 90% of those hands. So the typical ranges are BB (8%), Cutoff and Button 16% and 13% respectively. Importantly, the Cutoff and Button are unlikely to have Aces but the Button often does. That is the range asymmetry that is also seen in heads-up 3-bet pots and it still implies the same thing. The squeezer can more freely bet Ace-high and low-dry flops given their preflop range advantage. On most other boards, the squeezer c-bets much less frequently. Let’s consider some examples. In a 3-way, 3-bet pot, the Big Blind can cbet 100% of the time on A♥-K♠-5♦ as it just hits their range so strongly. In that sense it’s one of the Big Blind’s “strongest” flops. On similar dry Acehigh boards, you should c-bet frequently with a half-pot sizing. No more is needed. On most non-Ace high boards, you c-bet less frequently and for a full-pot sizing. The Big Blind’s “weakest” flop is something like 9♦-8♠-2♠ or J♦-10♦6♥, medium-high wet boards that your opponents could easily hit. Across these boards you are c-betting only about 30% of the time and, when you do, for full pot. A special mention is a board such as 7♠-3♥-2♦ which is difficult to hit and therefore gives your Aces a solid equity boost in a 3-way pot with an SPR of

2. On this board, you want to bet frequently with a big sizing to deny your opponent’s equity and realize yours.

Main Takeaways ♦ On the flop, the Big Blind will look to use both half-pot c-bets and full pot c-bets, depending on the board texture. ♦ C-bet frequencies are lower than in heads-up pots. ♦ Stack-off thresholds are tighter than in heads-up pots. ♦ The wider the checking range, the more traps you need to include.

3-way, 3-bet Hand Breakdown Let’s break down a hand I played in a $500 PLO online game recently in order to discuss GTO play versus exploitative play. Hand Example 128 In this hand, the EP player open-raises, the Button calls, and the Big Blind squeezes. The EP and Button players call. The SPR is 2 and the flop is K♥J♥-6♦ (Diagram 142). This flop is not Ace-high and, given the K-J connectivity and flush draw, is wet. It’s also a “heavy” board, meaning the EP and the Button can easily have a set, two pair or combo draw. Given these factors, the Big Blind squeezer should not often c-bet. Even at an SPR of 2, the Big Blind cannot simply stack-off with most of their Aces hands. They pay too much of a penalty when running into a strong hand from either opponent. According to a GTO strategy, on a board such as K♥-J♥-6♦, the Big Blind squeezer is c-betting around 40% of the time. This should be using both sizings, half-pot and full-pot at similar frequencies. A GTO Big Blind player is checking 60% of the time here and included in that range are hands such as A♥-2♥-A♣-5♣ and A♠-2♠-Q♣-10♣.

Diagram 142 In fact, a GTO Big Blind player should mix up their play with Aces and the nut flush draw, by checking 35% of the time, betting half-pot 41% and potting it around 24%. The Big Blind is often checking strong hands because if they don’t, their checking range will be too weak and, given the preflop ranges involved, they have to check often on this board texture. The Big Blind is also checking almost 40% of the time with sets. When the Big Blind checks, the GTO EP player is checking 80% of the time or betting using both sizings, split 10% each. After two checks, the GTO Button player is only checking 63% of the time, betting half-pot 32%, and full-pot 5%. After the Button faces two checks and takes a half-pot stab on the K♥-J♥6♦ flop, the Big Blind check-raises about 20% of the time to which the Button folds 30%. That means the Button is bet-folding 30% of their range on the flop (when they were betting 32% of the time) now that they realize they were being trapped by the Big Blind. However, this is not really how small stakes PLO plays out. In general, the Big Blind squeezer is just going to shove 100% of Aces and nut flush draws on the flop to stack-off and protect their hand. Almost no small stakes player has the discipline to check and trap here. But is it a big mistake? The reason the GTO Big Blind squeezer checks strong hands is because

the Button can stab a lot on the flop after two checks. But how will a small stakes Button player play? If they are straightforward in a 3-bet, 3-way pot, stabbing less and checking back more then, as the Big Blind, you don’t need to risk a flop check. If this is the case, maybe c-betting most of your Aces with a nut flush draw is correct. If the players behind you will not bluff or bet the flop with a merged range that you can punish by check-raising, there might be more value in simply betting the flop as the Big Blind. As the Button, what should you do in a small stakes game when the Big Blind squeezer does check the flop and the EP player checks? We’ve established that both players are probably just stacking off with hands such as Aces and nut flush draw or other strong hands. In a small stakes game, two checks here often means they are check-folding or check-calling. As the Button, after seeing two checks, you should bet exploitatively more often. In these big, multiway 3-bet pots with low SPRs, most small stakes players are not thinking about GTO. There’s a ton of money on the flop, everyone wants to protect their hand and get all the money in. Other players might shy away from stabbing or bet-folding. It’s up to you to identify and adjust to these players and how they approach these spots. If your IP opponents are going to stab the flop when you check, you do need to protect yourself by checking some strong hands in order to checkraise. If they are playing more straightforwardly, then you probably get more value from stronger hands by betting them yourself, especially if they are prone to overestimating their pot equity in multiway low SPR scenarios.

Multiway Single-raised Pots This principles examined in this section apply to most multiway single-raised pots. However, for strategy reference we will discuss this in the context of a Cutoff open, Button call and Big Blind call: a 3-way, 8.5 SPR scenario. Remember when we discussed heads-up single-raised pots? How many hands were actually good enough to bet as the OOP player on a mid-high SPR on the flop? Hands that could potentially deal with raises and multistreet action? Not very many. In multiway single-raised pots, there are even fewer of these hands because there are two opponents and the SPR is still high. Obviously there are fewer hands that can bet facing two opponents than facing one. As you will remember, when you are OOP and often checking, you need to include more strong hands in that checking range, so that the IP players cannot exploit it. When you do bet, you should tend to bet big with a polarized range. One aspect of the game that is relevant in multiway single-raised pots is the leading range for the Big Blind. The Big Blind can lead in these spots on low wet boards because, given the ranges in play, this gains EV disproportionately versus their opponents. Here is a comparison table to visualize this effect (Diagram 143):

Diagram 143: Call Versus Cutoff RFI and Button Call, SPR 2 As the cards become lower-ranked and more connected, the Big Blind should be leading into the preflop aggressor to apply the sandwich effect. The Cutoff is in a tough spot, not knowing how the Button will react behind. When checked to, the Cutoff has a low c-betting frequency on all these

boards. When the Button is checked to, they should bet a merged range IP because they are facing at least partially capped ranges. The IP player is incentivized to bet small to play a higher SPR on the turn and river, thus increasing their positional advantage. This helps in the event that the Button gets check-raised or it forces weaker ranges to continue OOP. A half-pot Button bet is also enough to put the Big Blind into an awkward sandwiched scenario. A GTO strategy still means that the Big Blind and Cutoff will be checking with many of their strong hands. Again, many small stakes players won’t play like this, they will want to protect their hands and build pots faster with their strong hands. Also, they correctly assume the players IP will not be betting as often. So, whenever you’re in a multiway pot, consider if the Big Blind actually has a leading range, or do they check or bet most strong hands? Does the Cutoff check some of their strong hands on the flop, or just c-bet? Whatever the answer is will affect your strategy. If they bet with their strong hands, be careful when facing a bet, and stab even wider against their checks. Remember this multiway stabbing frequency can be high but you’re often just betting half-pot. This forces the OOP players to give up the pot, continue weakly or announce their hand as strong by check-raising. Pay attention and adjust to your opponents.

Multiway Single-raised Pots: Straight Board Examples Finally, let’s consider a multiway single-raised pot and discuss more deeply how to think about these spots. Hand Example 129 This a $5/$10 online 6-max game. You raise to $35 from the Cutoff with A♣10♣-6♠-5♠ and get called by the Button as well as the Big Blind. You go 3way to the flop with an SPR of about 9 and the flop is 8♥-7♠-4♥ (Diagram 144).

Diagram 144 You have flopped a straight on a board where the nuts are still likely to change. The first thing you want to consider is the OOP player’s leading range. As we saw in the table above, the Big Blind sometimes leads when the board has low-ranking cards. Although this is true, it won’t apply too much on this precise board. If you look more closely, the top two cards are connected (7-8), meaning there are many possible higher straight draws. The Cutoff and Button have many 10-9 combinations in their preflop ranges and even some wraps (J-10-9) or gutshot and flush draw combinations. What the Big Blind would be doing by leading is building the pot to play multiple streets OOP against IP opponents, knowing the nuts will often change. It’s not easy to construct a range of hands that are happy to play this way. When the nuts change as frequently as on this flop, the OOP player tends to check and prefers a check-raising strategy. The Big Blind is leading 20% of their 6-5 straights and only ones with decent backup. This means those with a flush draw, a higher straight draw, a backdoor flush draw or a combination of these. The other 80% of the Big Blind’s flopped straights, including some with weak flush draws, are checking in order to check-raise or check-call and protect these ranges. What other hand could the Big Blind be willing to lead?

One that comes to mind is something like two pairs and a nut flush draw. These hands help to balance the straight leads with hands that benefit from the turn and river pairing the board or bringing a flush. In the actual hand, the Big Blind does lead out for 66%-pot and you are facing a seemingly very strong range with a vulnerable straight. You are probably behind in equity given this lead in a 3-way pot. The important concept to understand here is that, in this scenario, you should call and wait for the turn in order to shove. Playing IP in these cases, you should just call unless you have a strong equity edge against the nuts. You call and the Button calls behind. The Button is getting a good price and so could also have a nut flush draw, wrap draw or a set. Again, if the Button has a bare 6-5 straight they should just call the flop IP. Hand Example 130 The SPR is still almost 3 on the 3♣ turn. The board is now (8♥-7♠-4♥)-3♣ (Diagram 145). What would you now do as the Big Blind with A♠-Q♠-8♣4♦? Whenever you find yourself in a situation like this, you have to start thinking carefully about your hand. You are blocking sets and some two pairs, as well as the nut flush draw. What are your opponents calling with? Do you want to build a pot against two of those hands?

Diagram 145

Betting and getting raised isn’t great with this hand because your equity isn’t as good as it was on the flop. At this point, it is best to check from the Big Blind and try to see a river.

Main Takeaways ♦ C-bet frequencies multiway are lower than in heads-up pots. Remember, in heads-up 3-bet pots your ranges are more narrow. As with heads-up situations, certain boards are definitely good or bad for the 3-bettor. ♦ In single-raised pots, ranges are less narrow and more equal in strength. In single-raised pots, it’s a lot more about the exact four cards that you hold. ♦ In 3-bet pots it’s more about how your narrow range interacts with the board texture. For example, in 3-bet pots you can typically c-bet Acehigh boards with most of your range. In single-raised pots that is not true at all, it depends on your position and the exact four cards that you hold.

10

Pot-Limit Omaha Live Live PLO Fundamentals In this part of the book, you will learn more about how to approach live PLO and how to adapt your now solid baseline strategy to a live game. We’ll cover how live games are different and how you can maximize your earnings in the casinos. Live poker games are generally much softer than online poker, especially at the higher stakes. A lot of recreational poker players like to go to the casino to play poker, so the softest games in the world are live cash games and it will probably remain that way for quite some time. Higher win-rates are achievable compared to online since the field is so much weaker. Live PLO generally plays much deeper than online. A lot of players, especially recreational players, make huge mistakes when deep stacked. In online high stakes games, you need to be extremely good to achieve a win rates of 4-5bb/100. But in live PLO games, much higher win rates are achievable. Win rates of 15-20bb/100 are possible in soft games. The only real drawback is that games can be slow, especially when playing full-ring PLO. I think as players, we need to ask for shorthanded games whenever possible. But you can use this time to help train your poker brain. You can benefit from thinking about the adaptation needed to a new environment. It can always help to switch up your poker environment from time to time because it helps you to see the game differently. Not only the structure of the game but also the different player types that you will encounter and the different lines that you can take. Thinking about how to adjust to reads will also massively improve your analytical skills.

During a big live tournament series, you will normally be able to find soft PLO cash game tables. You might have to battle high rake but if you are going to the WSOP for example, you will find some incredible cash games, especially at the higher stakes, during a tournament series.

Straddling The straddle is simply a third blind. One of the biggest differences between live poker and online poker is the straddle. You have to adjust to having additional dead money in the pot. There are three common straddle variants: ♦ The UTG straddle is the most common one. This type of straddle is especially popular in the United States, and it’s less popular in Europe. ♦ The Button straddle, also called the Mississippi straddle. If the blinds are $5/$10, you can put up $20 of dead money before you have looked at your hand, and you also get the last action preflop. ♦ The rock straddle is especially common in Las Vegas and during the WSOP. If you win the pot, you also win the straddle and it is automatic for everyone at the table. So let’s say that you win a hand from middle position. You will be the straddle, and you will be last to act preflop.

The EV of Straddling In general, straddling is obviously minus EV because putting extra money in the pot before looking at your hand isn’t a very profitable thing to do. Straddles incentivize multiway action which is also not that attractive if you are one of the best players at the table. In heads-up pots, you have more opportunities to exploit your opponent and you can potentially have a higher win rate in heads-up pots in comparison to multiway pots. Straddling also encourages you to enter pots with weaker holdings and you will end up in tricky postflop situations where you are holding marginal hands. This especially holds true for the UTG straddle because you will be OOP for the entirety of the hand.

When to Straddle When everyone is straddling, you are not at a disadvantage if you also decide to straddle. When everyone is straddling, it means the stakes have effectively more than doubled because the maximum open-raise sizing more than doubles. When everybody straddles, no one is going to have an immediate edge and the only way to gain an edge is to be better at adjusting your strategy to the straddles than your opponents.

Another reason to straddle is to keep the recreational players in the game. When recreational players are losing, they want to play bigger pots because they are trying to recoup their losses. You don’t want to be the player in a game where everyone is straddling, except for you. This will hurt your image and might hurt your ability to get into games with loose recreational players. Recreational players are there to have fun so help to make the game more exciting! It can also be good to straddle when that means you can “buy the Button” without getting punished for it. At a loose or nitty table, where people aren’t attacking the straddle, it effectively means you don’t get punished as much for putting in the third blind while using it to buy position. This is especially the case if you can buy position against weaker players by straddling. It might be a fine price to pay and keep the action going. This certainly applies if you can adjust your strategy better than the other players.

Buy-in Strategies There is no one single answer as to how much you should buy-in for. There are a lot of different variables that can influence this decision and it can vary for every session. In general, you want to avoid playing a strategy in which you are always buying in as the deepest player on the table. There are more important things to consider than covering everyone at the table, such as: ♦ Who do I have position on? ♦ If you see that you have position on a weak opponent, you should make sure that you cover them when you are buying into the game. If the tough player at the table has position on you, you should buy-in shorter. ♦ What is the table dynamic? ♦ The more passive the game, the more likely it is you should be buying in deep because passive players won’t often put you in tough spots. They are not going to take marginal bluffing spots and they won’t make complicated bluffs. So, the more passive the game is, the better it is to buy in deep. ♦ The more aggressive the game is, or the more aggressive the players who have position on you are, the more likely it is that you should buy in short. This is a good strategy to exploit over-aggressive players, and you can make their life very hard. The default buy-in strategy that I recommend is to buy in for is 50bb if you are joining an unknown table where you have no reads on any of the other players. You can always add more chips to your stack once you start to understand the dynamics of the table but you can’t withdraw any of the chips once they are on the table.

Short Stacking

If done correctly, short-stacking can yield excellent profits. Short-stacking strategy would require a whole book in itself but we will have a quick overview. Be aware that short stacking requires a different skill set than playing at 100bb deep or more. If you don’t know how to adjust your strategy when you are playing shortstacked, you probably shouldn’t be doing so in the first place. However, using this strategy can give you excellent EV for the following reasons: ♦ Players don’t tend to pay close attention to stack sizes. In live poker, in contrast to online, the stack sizes are not displayed clearly. This means that many of your opponents will not adjust correctly to your short stack. ♦ Even if your opponents do pay attention, they usually don’t adjust to short stacks well. When up against a short stack, players often call too many 3-bets and then either fold too much or too little postflop. Every player has different leaks when they are playing against short-stacked players. ♦ By playing short-stacked, you can massively benefit from dead money in multiway pots. Let’s say that you squeeze preflop as the short stack and you get two callers. You can go all-in on the flop. You usually get to play a simpler game focused on preflop and flop strategy. The other two players must still make decisions on turns and rivers because they are deeper-stacked and not yet all-in. If one of the players folds on the turn or river, you get to realize your hand equity against one player rather than two. Even though the arguments for short-stacking can sound compelling, there is also a considerable drawback to playing as a short stack. If you have a significant edge against some of your opponents, then you are giving up some EV by being short-stacked. The reason is that when you have a short stack, all the money will often go in on the flop or turn. Against weak players, the street on which you will be able to win the most chips is usually the river. When you play with a short stack, you won’t often be able to realize this major edge that you might have against your opponent(s), which could harm your overall EV. You should also be aware that when the rake is very high, as it is in many online low stakes PLO games, you shouldn’t be short-stacking because the rake will eat up too many chips for you to be able to make a significant profit.

As mentioned before, a good idea is to start with 50bb, or the minimum amount, and then add more chips when you identify you are in a good situation to do so or, better still, double up through someone by taking advantage of their wide ranges and your increased realizability.

Running it Once or Twice? Many of my students ask me if they should run it once or if they should run it twice. I advise you to run it once if you: ♦ Have a big bankroll or if you are playing in a game for which you are over-rolled. Although you are going to encounter some more variance and it might sometimes sting to get sucked out on in a big pot, it is equally awesome when you suck out on someone in a big pot and it hurts them. If you are properly bankrolled and you are mentally capable of handling the swings, I recommend that you run it once. ♦ Want more fold equity. Every live player has been in that situation where the stacks have gone in and the players don’t agree on whether they should run it once or twice. Almost everyone is at least a little bit scared or intimidated by the guy who says, “One fu**ing time.” If you are known for always running it once, your opponents might keep that in the back of their mind, and it could influence them if they have a very close decision between folding and calling for their entire stack. At the end of the day, running it once might give you slightly more fold equity. ♦ Are in an unfamiliar setting. Unless you are 100% sure what the running it twice rules are and how they are enforced, I suggest running it once and avoiding any miscommunications or misunderstandings. Run it twice if you: ♦ Want to reduce variance because you’re under-rolled or taking a shot. ♦ Are in a familiar setting and a friendly game where everyone is running it twice and you prefer to maintain the mood and seat positions as they are. In general, I suggest sticking with one decision per session, to avoid miscommunications with other players and the dealer. But if you feel communication isn’t an issue, you can also employ a strategy that allows you to lower the variance while maintaining a more intimidating table image. For pots up to 200-300 Big Blinds or lower, just run it once. If the pot is larger than 300 Big Blinds, run it twice to keep the variance lower.

Live poker is much more about your image than online poker. You benefit from the image of being someone who is willing to gamble, someone who is not afraid and however you get that image is up to you. Using this strategy is something that could help you.

Thinking About Players It is important to understand what motivates an individual to play in your game. That motivation and incentive can change somewhat, which means that you need to be hyper-aware. Some people are very passionate about poker. They want to hold cards, hold chips and put the chips into the middle to see what happens. Of course, they are trying to win but they are not always necessarily thinking about strategy. Players might be looking for a platform to socialize and poker is a great one, specifically if the table is fun. Others are just looking to gamble and they want to be the center of attention. If so, you can help them by being more engaged. Your goal as a winning poker player is to understand your opponents and their motivations. Some of the time the table will be filled with regulars and their goal when playing poker is to make money, rather than have a good time. They might be after both but making money is the priority. When you face a recreational player at the table, your goal should be to empathize with their motivation. Then they will play longer, have more fun and eventually come back. Everyone is competitive at the poker table but some players are more so than others. Your aim should be to make it a fun experience and less about competition and strategy and there are many different ways to achieve that goal. In general, it is useful to think of six different personality types that you will encounter to get a better idea of who is on your table. Ultimately every player is unique but here are some basic profiles and factors to look out for in live poker play.

1) The Poker Enthusiast The poker enthusiast is someone who loves the game and has a deep passion for it. They are competitive and they like to play a lot, probably playing multiple times a week. The way you can recognize this player is because they are usually very active and lively at the poker table. They are often talking about the game, talking about strategy and talking about poker content. When they are on a winning streak, you will see this type of player in a very talkative and happy mood. At the same time, they are going to protect their

winnings. They remember the nights before when they were winning big and then lost it all, and felt terrible. When they start losing, they become very frustrated. The poker enthusiast can spot the professional players at the table. They understand the pros have probably studied the game more than they have, and generally want to stay away from them. Every so often though, they will decide to get involved and will generally give the pros too much credit for being creative and aggressive. For that reason, they are also willing to take a stand, especially against a big bet. In some situations, you should be careful not too over-bluff them because they will call you down if they perceive you as a strong player. Against recreational players, they usually play straightforwardly and their perception of them is as players who are never folding. For that reason, they bet big when they have it and they usually shy away from bluffing them. Once again, the biggest weakness of the poker enthusiast are their emotions. They become frustrated when losing, especially when they have previously been winning. The most obvious and easiest way to tell that someone is a poker enthusiast and not a professional is that they get upset when a bad player wins a stack from them. Then they become frustrated, trying to win it back. Be aware of situations where this player becomes frustrated and then starts tilting.

2) The Businessman (or Woman) The businessman has made money outside of poker and usually likes to show it. It can be in subtle ways, like having an expensive suit or watch or answering business emails on the phone. But sometimes they also really like to show off by buying in deep. Their primary motivation for playing the game is the competition. They like to outplay the better players at the tables and they are in there for the action. They are competitive and can try to push you around. They don’t like getting bluffed so they can also make a big hero call if you put them under pressure. Keep track of how much action this player has been getting in the last hour. If they had a lot of good, exciting hands, they might just be leaning back a little. But if they have been card dead all day long, they might try to force the pace with weak hands or pull off a big bluff to try and initiate a big swing. For the most part, this player has a set time they are willing to play, so be attentive when they are going to leave and how their style might change

during the night.

3) The “Scared Money” Player The scared money player generally loves to play poker but hates to lose. They are willing to get run over, especially at the beginning of the session, because they are scared to make big call downs without having much information on their opponents. They might quit early when up a bunch or when losing. They want to book a win and they are going to take preflop and postflop lines to lower the variance. This player can be overrun, while trying to protect their winnings but will take a stand if they pick up on your high level of aggression.

4) The Gambler/Maniac The gambler or the maniac type is a player who is always looking for action. They play a ton of hands and are generally behind when it comes to equity. However, they have a blast when they outdraw other players. One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about this player-type is to think that because there is a gambler on the table, they must also loosen up and gamble. A lot of gamblers like to draw attention to themselves, so by playing too many hands and being overly loud, you will be drawing attention away from them. You want to stay positive towards them and never berate them and definitely don’t steal their show. They generally order a couple of drinks, are very talkative, play tons of hands and get the money in. You want to stay disciplined and positive, embrace the higher variance and know that, in the long run, your winnings increase when these players are around.

5) The Beginner The next player type is the clueless beginner. The beginner likes and is interested in poker but doesn’t know much about it. There is not much to say about this player type but the last thing that they want is to be judged for not knowing the rules or making a terrible play. You should be supportive of this player and let them know how things work without embarrassing them. Be supportive and don’t act in a strange way in case they have a huge blow-up and become overwhelmed with the situation. If other players become negative towards them, they will rightfully

quit playing.

6) The Professional Finally, there is the professional poker player. There are different types of professional players with different experiences, different strategies and different leaks. Some of them get tired quickly, some get upset faster, some have poor bankroll management and all adjust differently to recreational players, etc. Professional players who are upset by recreational players are usually less experienced when it comes to live poker. Players who understand social dynamics and how to adjust to their opponents are better at live poker. The human element in live poker cannot be underestimated and also can’t really be learned by only reading books or playing a few sessions. Experience and hyper-awareness are crucial when it comes to your poker sessions. Start labeling players and think more about the psychology of individuals rather than only about the hands. You will pick up these skills over time. In the following live PLO hand examples, we are going to see in more detail how to differentiate between different player types and what kind of reads to pick up throughout a session.

Playing at the Aria Now that you understand some live poker dynamics and the different types of players you can face, I am going to discuss some hand examples from a night of poker I played at the Aria in Las Vegas. At around 7 pm, I walk over to the Aria and I look at the waiting list. There are six games running at the 5/10/20 blind level, which is great news for me. When the city is full, especially during the weekends, you can expect a lot of recreational players to hop into the games. The 5/10 or 10/20 games are usually the games where you will find many recreational players, and in the 25/50 game, you will see more professionals. After waiting 30 minutes I sit down at a table and buy-in for the minimum $1,000. I can always top up if I want but I can never take away from my stack. I sit down in a 5/10/20 game with a mandatory straddle. There are a few guys to my right who look recreational. They are not as attentive and they are also drinking. I realize that most likely, I am in a pretty decent seat. To my left, I have two younger players that I would label as most likely professionals or at least poker enthusiasts and they are much deeper. So, it’s an excellent spot to be short-stacked because the guys to my left can make my life quite tough at high SPRs.

Hand 1 Before I am even dealt into the game, the following hand unfolds. There are seven players at the table and the UTG player open limps for $20. The next player limps along. The (professional) player to my left raises full pot. The Big Blind, who also seems like a professional player, comes in for a call rather quickly. They see a four-way flop, which comes down K♣-9♣-5♠. The Big Blind bets, the first limper calls from UTG and the two other players fold. The turn is the 2♣, which brings in the flush. The board is now K♣-9♣5♠-2♣, and both players check quickly. The river brings an offsuit Ace. Both players check again on the river and the pro-looking player in the Big Blind tables K♠-K♦-6♠-5♦ for top set and the EP limper shows Q♣-10♣-8♥5♥. Now, why exactly is this such an interesting hand?

What is happening here? When I see the recreational player checking both the turn and river quickly with the second nuts, I understand where his thresholds are. He doesn’t consider a Queen-high flush to be strong enough to consider going for value. That is a very passive play. He limps in with Q♣10♣-8♥-5♥ and calls a raise to play a multiway pot with a very non-nutted hand and poor position. I have to determine in future hands how willing he is to come along for the limp to make a proper decision when it comes to isolating these players. The Big Blind is holding K♠-K♦-6♠-5♦, a strong hand that should be 3-bet preflop. We need to understand why he just called. The reason might be because he values keeping the recreational players in more than 3-betting against the other regular. Understanding his approach to the game in this situation is essential for future decision making. We can isolate the recreational players more aggressively if the other regulars are finding value in playing the recreational players rather than 3-betting light or even with strong hands. This hand already gives us a lot of information that will influence our future decision making when it comes to isolating the loose-passive players on my right. Once again, it is crucial to be hyper-aware in these situations, even if you have not yet been dealt into the game. Use your downtime to think about how, given these factors, your opponents are playing their ranges, how they approach the game and how you can maximize your EV.

Hand 2 In the next hand, the other professional or poker enthusiast stacks the recreational player to my right who had $1,000 left. That player now instantly rebuys for $3,000 while the winner announces that he is about to leave soon. A lot of times, when players stack each other, they announce it if they plan to leave soon because they don’t want their opponents to feel like they are doing a hit and run. The point is that we understand the metagame here. The recreational player is going to try and win back his money. I also think there is a dynamic that when I isolate a recreational player, the pros to my left are most likely just going to come in for the call. I therefore add $2,000 to my stack to cover the player to my right. Soon after, I am straddling and look down at 7♣-7♦-5♠-5♣. The Cutoff raises, both blinds call and I decide to call as well, making it a four-way flop.

The Cutoff is the likely poker enthusiast who is about to leave and seems to be up about $2,000. This player has been counting his chips a lot, which makes me think that he cares about exactly how many chips he has and how much he is up. It looks like he is about to leave, he is trying to book a win and I am going to keep this in mind during the hand. We go to the flop and see a board of 6♥-3♣-2♥. I have flopped the blockers to the straight, an inside straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Other than the flush draw the flop is dry. The Small Blind and Big Blind check and I make a big bet on the flop to bluff, hoping to take the pot down. The Cutoff calls quickly and the Small Blind and Big Blind fold. The turn is the 3♥, so the board is now (6♥-3♣-2♥)-3♥. The turn brings in a flush but, at the same time, it pairs the board. I am convinced that my hand is not good and, I must make a decision as to whether I want to start bluffing or if I want to check and give up. The thing to consider here is my opponent’s situation. He is about to leave, he wants to book a win and, at the same time, it is unlikely that his preflop range generates a lot of full houses on this board. I am in the straddle and I can have tons of full houses here with hands such as 6-6, or 6-3. For that reason, I can represent some powerful hands. When I bet the turn, I will be called very often by the nut flush. To make my bluff effective, I will have to come in for a double barrel and I am planning to do that. I even have some outs to improve but, overall, I think the bluff will be successful because my opponent is about to leave. As we know, he also wants to book a win so he is unlikely to make big risky call downs against someone on whom he doesn’t have a read. I bet $550 on the turn into an $800 pot, and my opponent tanks. You can see that he is trying to figure out how much he is still up if he calls and how much money there is behind on the river after he calls the turn. Eventually, he goes ahead and calls the $550, and we see a river, which is the 8♣. The board now is (6♥-3♣-2♥-3♥)-8♣. Of course, at this point, my hand is no good and I have to decide if I still want to bluff. I already decided on the turn that, in order to make this an effective turn bet, I have to doublebarrel. So I go ahead and I bet full pot. My opponent thinks for a while but then ends up folding and leaves the table after a few hands later.

Hand 3 A few orbits later, I have a $2,500 stack and wake up with A♣-A♦-7♣-3♣ in

the Hijack. Including myself, there are eight players at the table. The UTG player straddles and the next two players call. Remember that we already understand the metagame here: if I raise, the professionals on my left will usually call because they want to play against the recreational players who limped in. When I am over-limping I often hold a marginal hand, since I would be trying to isolate the recreational players if I were holding a strong hand. The professionals sitting behind me probably understand this, so they will often raise when I decide to limp to get value from my marginal holdings while they are in position. If they raise, I would have the option to come over the top for a very significant amount and get some players to fold, some players to call and lower the SPR to a point where I can over-realize my equity. Although my hand does have some nuttiness, it doesn’t play too well in multiway pots. The only flops on which I could get a lot of money in the middle in a multiway situation would be if I flop a top set, a flush or nut flush draw. It will be tricky to play this hand postflop, especially at medium to high SPRs. Therefore, two situations are promising ones for me. I should either try to keep the pot small and hope to hit a very strong hand. Or, I should try to get a huge chunk of my stack into the pot preflop to lower the SPR and set myself up to go all-in on many different flops. This time I come in with the over-limp with A♣-A♦-7♣-3♣. I am hoping to either keep the pot very small or to be able to get a lot of chips in the middle in the event that one of the other players decides to raise. The professionals behind me decide to over-limp and the flop is J♠-10♥5♦. I have completely missed the board and I check-fold. This time my plan didn’t work out as I hoped but this is a great hand example to illustrate how you should think about adjusting your strategy in view of the metagame considerations.

Hand 4 The final interesting hand of the night occurs when I am once again in the straddle for $20 and I hold A♥-Q♥-6♥-4♦. There are currently six players at the table and the first two players fold. The Button open limps, the Small Blind calls and the Big Blind checks. I also check. The flop comes K♣-7♥-5♦, giving me an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor nut flush draw. The Small Blind checks and the Big Blind quickly bets $60 into an $80 pot. With just an open-ender this is usually a fold.

However, in this instance, my opponent is very attached to strong hands and he has been playing very passively for the last 3-4 hours. I believe that against this player I am very likely to win a big pot if I do hit my straight so I give myself additional implied odds. I call and the other two players in the hand fold. The turn is the 3♣, giving me the nut straight on a (K♣-7♥-5♦)-3♣ board. Of course, the straight got there but it’s one of the unlikelier straights I can be holding. I think that my opponent was holding a very strong hand on the flop because he bet into multiple people and passive players usually only do that with very strong hands. In this situation, I want to maximize my value against his hand so, after he checks, I use a pot-size bet. My opponent calls very quickly. When somebody calls very quickly, they are sometimes sending a subconscious message saying, “I am strong, don’t try to bluff me on the river. I am willing to go to showdown.” The river brings the meaningless Q♦, making the board (K♣-7♥-5♦-3♣)-Q♦ and my opponent immediately checks. I go into the tank before betting almost the full size of the pot without announcing that I bet full pot. My opponent quickly calls and I win a $1,600 pot. You don’t always have to think deeply about polarization or board texture to choose the correct bet sizing. In multiway pots, passive opponents who bet are usually very strong and won’t like to let go of their hand when a very unlikely straight comes in. I wouldn’t suggest bluffing in a spot like this even with a blocker or two.

Main Takeaways ♦ From the moment that you sit down at the table, you should start to analyze your opponents. ♦ What is their motivation for playing? ♦ What adjustments should you start making preflop? ♦ What adjustments should you start making postflop? ♦ Think about your own image. How will your opponents adjust their strategy based on that perceived image? How should you adjust your ranges accordingly to exploit their perception of your image? ♦ Pay attention to your opponent’s timing. ♦ Pay attention to the stack sizes.

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Away From the Table Bankroll Management General Introduction Bankroll management is one of the most important considerations in your overall poker journey. Bankroll management is the practice of creating financial rules that you set for yourself regarding the stakes you will play with a specific bankroll. If you don’t manage your bankroll well, you can lose it all, which means that you can’t play anymore. It doesn’t matter how good you are; it doesn’t matter how hard you worked in the past and how many hours you put into your game off the tables. When you lose your entire poker bankroll, you also lose the ability to realize your edge and your ability to make money in poker. Mismanaging your bankroll runs the risk of placing you in a disastrous scenario.

Introduction to Variance One of the biggest causes in poker for mental game problems and tilt, is being under-rolled. To strengthen your mindset and to avoid tilt, you must understand variance, the implication that it has and how to deal with it. Variance is a representation of how much results can differ from expectations. Let’s say you are going to play in a game where you expect to win $50 an hour. You are going to play a four hour session, so you are expecting to make a profit of $200. At the end of the session, you find yourself $200 down. This

can happen often and it can be frustrating. There is no denying variance is a big part of the game. However, the good news is that variance is what brings action to the game. It hides the truth and means that losing players who win a few times in a row can be in denial regarding their true strength. It also affects winning players who go on a heater and now overestimate their edge. Variance can also negatively impact the confidence of winning players who are experiencing a downswing. In most cases, your edge will be impacted by how well you run. There are very few players in the world who are not affected by variance and who are playing equally well when they are on a big downswing as to when they are on a heater. Very often, players who are losing money start to play worse and, because of this, they can lose their edge and become losing players in the games they usually are winning players in. You want to stop thinking about yourself as either a winning player or a losing player. You want to ask yourself: “In this game, at this time, with these players, and with this level of focus and confidence, am I a winning player or not?” If you are on average a 3bb/100 winning player, that doesn’t mean that you were a 3bb/100 winning player last night when you were way too tired. You probably were a losing player in that game. It is important to understand that the win rate you have is fluctuating and depending on many different factors. Always ask yourself: “Am I a winning player in this game, right now?” If the answer to this question is no, then take some time to reflect on why you are playing.

Downswings Players often ask me two different questions related to downswings: ♦ What have my worst PLO downswings been like? ♦ What they should do if they’re in a downswing? Before I answer, let me just clarify what a downswing is. A downswing is when you lose money for an extended and unexpected amount of time or sessions. Downswing is a word that mostly applies to players with positive win rates, who should be winners. For online poker, my worst downswings have been around 50 buy-ins and I have had one every year or two since 2011. In my worst sessions online, I

have lost almost 20 buy-ins but that doesn’t happen nearly as often now as I usually just stop playing after I lose the tenth stack. For live poker, I mostly play sporadically during events, so I wouldn’t say I have experienced any long-term downswing yet, but I have won and lost 20 buy-ins in single sessions. I assume there are winning players who have lost more than 50 buy-ins before getting upside traction or quitting. A 6-max PLO player with a win rate of 8bb/100 has a about a 3% chance of losing after 100,000 hands, given an average standard deviation. Imagine how losing after 100,000 hands can destroy someone’s confidence and motivation. Feeling like you should be crushing the games and yet still losing. This can really impact on your mental state and your ability to perform well at the tables. When you are stuck in a downswing, it is very tempting to drop down in stakes or to quit playing entirely because you feel like you are a losing player. And, worse, it feels like there is nothing you can do that will change this. You might be crushing the games and the only thing you must do is keep playing more hands and consistently improve. You need to accept that in order to get a good enough sample to accurately know your win rate, you will have to play a lot and your game will have changed over time. Game dynamics will also change both positively and negatively. You can only get an average of your true win rate because it changes over time, so don’t worry too much about it. Focus on making the best decisions at each point of each hand. Learn strategy and execute it. That’s all you can do and that’s all you must do. It is important that you realize the impact variance can have and that a bad run can happen to anyone. The best way to know whether you are in a downswing or just losing because of poor strategy, is by identifying variance and identifying your opponent’s mistakes and your solid thought process.

All-in EV All-in EV stands for all-in expected value. It’s a statistic commonly used in poker trackers and it calculates the EV of your hand for the times you are allin against your opponent’s hand. That’s all it does. You can then see what your winnings were over time and also what your all-in EV adjusted winnings should be. Maybe you ran hot and won more in all-in scenarios than you should have. Maybe you ran bad and you won fewer. The point is that many players think of this number as an accurate way

to tell if you’ve been experiencing good or bad variance. In reality, all-in EV is just a small part of the variance you experience when playing PLO or, indeed, poker in general. How did you end up going all-in in the first place? The cards you got, your opponent’s cards, the board? It all had to line up for an all-in scenario. That’s a lot of variance before the all-in even happens. What about the hands that didn’t end up in an all-in? Most hands don’t. How many hands did you see the flop with and how strong did your hands remain on the flop? Did you get good flops or bad flops for your preflop range? What about turns and river? How many mistakes did each opponent make, how costly were they and were you able to profit from them? I could go on and on about how much variance there is in poker. The only elements that aren’t variance are the decisions we make. How much we prepare off the table and how we execute at the table. How much we buy-in for, which hands to play, how to react to what happens during the hand and what we do with the information we get. Once you accept that, you will have an easier time dealing with inevitable downswings and be able to keep your confidence grounded during them.

Bankroll Schedule Guide Everyone has different poker goals and motivations. I am not going to provide set in stone rules on precisely how many buy-ins you “need” to be able to play a specific stake. The truth is that everyone’s situation is different and that every different situation requires a different optimal bankroll management technique. If you play non-professionally, a lot depends on your income. Maybe you don’t need strict bankroll management rules because, within reason, you can replenish your bankroll. Play within your means and play at tables where you see other players making big mistakes. Play only with money you can afford to lose and try to win to the best of your abilities so you can consider moving up in stakes. More on taking shots later. If you are a professional and cannot replenish your bankroll, you need to protect your risk of ruin. I recommend that professionals use the standard rule of 100 to 150 buy-ins. This sounds rather conservative, but it will prevent you from having mental issues because you are under-rolled. When you are appropriately rolled, you are way less likely to tilt after losing a few buy-ins. Let’s say you are playing online PLO $500 with a $50,000 bankroll (100

buy-ins). You should move down as soon as you have only 100 buy-ins for the next lower limit which is, in this case, 100 buy-ins for PLO $200, which equals $20,000. The higher your win rate, the lower your variance is going to be. This means that if you have a big win rate, such as in live PLO games, you could be less strict and go as low as 50 buy-ins. If you have a small win rate, you should be stricter because you will experience bigger downswings. You may be more confident that you are a good winner at your regular game. This could perhaps be because you can assess the (poor) quality of the typical decisions the players are making. In that case you can be less strict and can operate with a 50 buy-in bankroll. Just keep in mind you also must be hyper-aware of variance and move down if you need to. You must move down before it is too late because that can have you end up in a situation where your entire roll is in danger.

Moving Up and Down in Stakes So, what stake should you play? This is a question that comes up a lot during my Twitch.tv livestreams. If you’re a beginner, I suggest first jumping into a micro or small stakes game. Play your first few thousand hands anywhere and just get more comfortable with the game against easy opposition. Start getting better at making the right adjustments preflop and using the Four Pillars of Postflop Analysis. There’s no need to jump into a game where losing a few stacks will sting you. Once you are more confident with your game, you can continue there or test out a higher stake. You don’t have to officially become a $2/$5 regular to play your first $2/$5 session. If you feel ready and can afford to lose a few buy-ins, you can give it a shot. Know that you are still at a stage where you will make mistakes. If you can’t afford it or won’t have an edge when you do, there’s no great reason to do it. Keep building your poker bankroll until you’re ready. In the end, there are only two things that you should focus on when you are thinking about what stake to play: ♦ Do I have an edge in this game after the rake, based on the skills that I have, the level of play of my opponents, and my mental state? ♦ Does my bankroll allow me to play this stake?

If you answer both questions with a yes, you should be playing that game. Never make decisions about what games you should play based on how much you are winning or losing, or on “how good you are running.” Only play the games where you think you can make the most profit while staying within the limits that your bankroll allows you to play at. Moving up the stakes is more complicated than moving down in stakes. A lot of players who go on a heater and win a lot of money think they should move up. The problem with this way of thinking is that these players don’t consider what their edge might be at a higher stake. They only look at the financial results, which are usually highly influenced by variance. Past results are not a good predictor for their edge at a higher stake. However, some players fall on the opposite side of the spectrum. They are crushing the games at their stake but they don’t yet have 100 buy-ins for the next stake, so they are waiting until their bankroll allows them to move up. Waiting too long before moving up can also be a mistake. If you are certain that you are crushing your normal games, after accounting for variance, it could make sense to be more aggressive in your shot-taking. Try not to consider yourself as a player who plays at a specific stake. You can usually play at least at a couple of different stakes and you should always look for the most EV game that is available within your range of stakes. One day it might be a lower stake and the next a higher one. It depends on who’s playing it and how good a mental state you are in.

Taking Shots Taking a shot is a high risk, high reward scenario. To justify it, you should look for situations where you have a big edge. When you are taking a shot, you want your success rate to be as high as possible. You never want to just take a shot. You want to take a good shot. To take a good shot, you must consider many different things. When are the regulars at the new stake playing? When are the recreational players playing? At what time am I in the optimal mental state to take the perfect shot? What do I need to do to prepare myself to get into this state? Let’s say you want to take a shot at a PLO $200 online. You set aside $800 or $1,000 to do so. Then, you want to think about what the best time to take

the shot is. For example, Sunday evening is the time where most of the recreational players are playing. But the regulars are also online on Sunday to exploit all the recreational players who are playing there. Most of the regulars might play long hours on Sunday. If you come in towards the end of the night, most regulars might be very tired because they have already been playing the entire day. This means that the regulars are not playing their best game. So, you have potentially found a time slot where a lot of recreational players are online, while the regulars are not playing their A-game. The next step is to make sure that you are showing up in a good mental state. You want to be well rested and sharp at the start of your session. If you can make these factors come together, it truly is a shot worth taking and that is how you maximize your chances to succeed and subsequently move up to the next stake. Before taking the shot, you want to ask yourself, “if I will lose all the money that I have set aside for this shot, am I going to regret it?” If the answer is yes, then you are probably not taking a good enough shot. If the answer is no, then you have prepared yourself optimally, and you are ready to take the shot. Now all you can do is focus on playing as well as you can. If you lose the money you had set aside for the shot, then move down, rebuild and try again. Eventually the shot will work out and you will find yourself playing at a higher stake when games are good. When taking a shot, you want to ensure that you don’t have to drop down two stakes if the shot goes wrong. For example, you are playing PLO $200 and you are making $100 an hour. You are confident that you are crushing this game and you have a bankroll of 100 buy-ins ($20,000). You want to start taking a shot at PLO $500. The important point is that you must make sure you can always keep playing at PLO $200 even if your shot goes wrong! You don’t want to risk a major percentage of your bankroll. If you take a big shot at PLO $500 and lose 20 buy-ins, you are left with a $10,000 poker roll. This would mean that you would have to drop back down to PLO $100, where you might only be making about $60 an hour. Set aside a reasonable amount, such as five buy-ins and try it out. You can win back $2,500 at PLO $200 and it doesn’t affect your ability to play at your main stake. Remember, you shouldn’t wait until you have 100 buy-ins for the next stake and then play the higher stake every day. You should decide before

whether you want to take a shot, then find a good scenario to do so. It will take some time to get used to the new stake because you are facing new players and you need to adjust to playing for larger sums of money. By being in this, “take a shot” mentality, you will gain experience at your new stake and you will have a chance to move up and simultaneously limit your risk.

Main Takeaways ♦ If you bust your bankroll, it’s over. Don’t risk it. Proper bankroll management is crucial and is needed to survive normal poker variance. ♦ Be careful moving up too fast or too slow. This could massively hold you back in your poker journey. You should play the game where you can make the best possible hourly rate and is within your bankroll. ♦ Stay in a “shot taking” mentality, while maintaining proper bankroll management. When you take a shot, make sure that you have an edge and have limited the potential downsides.

The Mental Game When I decided to transition to playing Pot Limit Omaha in 2011, I simultaneously started working with mental game coaches. These have been my best investments and I don’t think I would be where I am today without their input. I refer you to those experts in their field and I will talk about my experience with the mental game mainly as a PLO player. I have spoken to many poker players with different abilities, talents and aspirations. Especially in private one-on-one conversations through coaching. Most poker players label themselves as, “lazy, unproductive and certainly not structured or self-disciplined.” Napoleon Hill wrote, “Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don’t control what you think, you can’t control what you do. Simple self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterwards.” The way you speak to yourself or the inner dialogue you have with yourself can be a huge problem and a limiting factor in your development as a player. If you want to do something, you first have to identify as a person who would do that thing. For example, if you want to live a more disciplined life, then you first must identify as someone who can be more disciplined. You must always look to be congruent with your thoughts. Deep down this is a natural bias that humans have. If you think that you are lazy, then you are going to be lazy. So, you have to work on the basic level of your mind to fix the self-dialogue that you have. You must talk to yourself in a productive way and fashion and that always starts with clear thought processes. If you want to be a better PLO player, you must identify as someone who can learn more about the game. We have thousands of thoughts every day and it’s going to be tough to have productive thoughts if you lack clarity. It’s important to find time in the day where you are structuring your thoughts. This is something you can learn and something you can train. If you have clarity about your goals and who you are, it is much easier to act upon that. Think first and act later. This relates a lot to poker, especially while playing. Mistakes often occur because a player acts before they think clearly. It’s called tilt. If you can avoid acting before you think, you are going to execute a more successful strategy.

You are going to play your A-game much more frequently if you focus on being self-aware about what you’re thinking and only then act. There are three different high-performance areas that are the most important ones on which to focus if you want to improve your game.

Pre-game Routines Session planning ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

How long will you play? How many breaks will you take and how often? How many sessions per week will you play? Do you have a stop loss? Do you want to focus on playing at a specific stack size? Do you have strategic reminders with you to help you stay on the correct path?

Environmental optimization ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

How do you improve your workspace so that you are fully focused? Have you removed all potential distractions? How do you make sure that you stay hydrated while you are playing? What kind of music are you listening to, if any? What do you do right before you play in order to be fully optimized for playing poker?

In-game Routines ♦ Tilt control. How to stick to using logic instead of focusing too much on your emotions? ♦ Awareness. Do you fully understand how you are feeling when you are playing? Do you know if you have an edge? Are you playing for the right reasons? ♦ Motivation. How do you stick to your pre-game plan? Maybe you are up a lot and you feel like quitting. How can you stay disciplined then? ♦ Breaks. How do you optimize your breaks and what do you do during them?

Post-game Routines ♦ Sleep, diet, exercise, meditation. Are you doing what you know you should do? ♦ Handling losing sessions and downswings. Are you paying attention to variance, both when you win and when you lose? The point is not to focus on variance but accept it and then focus on your decisions. Can you look back and work out when you are playing badly, why it happened and how to fix it? If you don’t, you can join our online community for help. Work on your mental game by reading books or listening to podcasts. ♦ Regulating stress. Find something to do for fun or that you like. Be grateful for the good things in life, like being able to play poker. Accept variance. ♦ Working on your game. What should your study-to-play ratio be? How do you work on your game? Let’s examine this one more deeply.

Study-to-play Ratio A question that I often hear from my students is, “How much should I balance my poker time between studying and playing?” I hope that by now you understand that in this book I am not trying to provide you with universally applicable answers. That’s not the approach that I think will give you the best possible results. The main goal with this book is to help you become a self-learner who will be able to find their own path in poker. Let’s first differentiate between different types of study sessions. Maybe you have already been working on your PLO game off the tables by doing things like watching PLO videos or reviewing hands. Or maybe you are completely new to the idea of “studying poker”. Or, you might have no idea what type of study sessions are the most beneficial for your current situation. There are, broadly speaking, four different types of study sessions: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Session warm-up. Play and study. Session review. Deep work.

Session Warm-up The session warm-up happens right before you play. In this session, you are reading notes that you made from your previous study sessions. Mainly, strategic reminders of what to do and what not to do. Maybe you identified a common mistake you make. Maybe you are using a tool to practice a specific situation, get feedback and warm up your cognitive poker abilities. Or you might be doing meditation and training your conscious mind to prepare and get ready for your session. This type of study session is not intended to improve your strategic understanding of the game but is geared more so that you can execute what you have already learned. The big strategic takeaways are not achieved in this type of session. However, they are important and you should do these session warm-ups every single time before you play. In fact, you already have a session warm-up. It might not be very good but

whatever it is you are doing in the 30 minute window before you play is your session warm-up. Since you already have one, you can easily change it to whatever kind of method you prefer to use as a warm-up for your poker session. This will make it more likely that there is a certain consistency when it comes to the quality of play that you have. I suggest it’s not related to highly complex and new subjects. So, watching a video, especially a theory video, is not a great idea because it generates new questions and you don’t want to have to think about new questions before you play. You just want to reconfirm what you already know. Go through the sessions of common mistakes that you have already made and know how to fix them. And then head into your session. The goal here is more to get a refresher of your existing strategic understanding and not to try to integrate new understandings or insights. So, make sure to not do any complex work right before you play.

Play and Study This is a form of studying that is overlooked as it requires active selfawareness. The benefit of this type of study session is not necessarily to confirm your strategic understanding of how you play. It is more to understand how your execution works. How can you improve your thought processes? What kind of questions are arising in the first place? How do you plan to review hands? How long is your attention span and at what point do you need a break? For online players, the way to practice this is by playing fewer tables than usual. Playing one or two tables means that you have more time to make decisions and think about adjustments. It frees up some time while you are playing so that you can train your attention span and be able to observe your own emotions. You can practice being more self-aware, which helps you to improve your performance mode. Live players can decide to do this anytime. Observe your behaviors in order to gain more knowledge and a better understanding of your performance. You are studying your execution process a lot more than your strategic understanding of the game. There is a lot of value in this but you don’t need to do this multiple times a week. You can do this once or twice a month and still generate useful information. The difference between not doing this at all and doing it once or twice a month can be significant. So, make sure to plan these play and study sessions into your schedule occasionally.

The Session Review This is third type of study session that many players use. This is especially the case for online players who can easily review hands they have marked and labeled during sessions. They can do so by themselves, post the hands online or partner up with other players for a session review. There is a lot of value in doing any of those things. The most important thing though, is not the quantity of how many session reviews you make or how many hands you review. It’s more about the quality. What kind of questions are you asking? What is your thought process when it comes to analyzing a hand? The goal of a session review is to formulate your thought processes as accurately as possible so someone else can give you feedback on them. You want to mark hands while you play and review those hands after the session. You want to focus on finding answers to questions such as, “What is actually the problem here? Why am I struggling with this hand? What decision point was the most difficult for me to find an answer to? And why was it difficult?” When you review hands from a particular scenario, such as those in a 3-bet pot, the first thing that you want to do is to go through your current understanding of the situation. If you don’t have enough information, try to find it somewhere. In this book, software or in any poker community. You are essentially using an approach that is very request-based. You take a hand, you request information, you find that information and then you have an answer to your problem. That sort of format is very valuable but not nearly as much as the next type of study session.

Deep Work Deep work is where you should be spending most of your time when it comes to studying away from the table. As the name implies, this is when you focus on a specific topic and examine it deeply. Focus on a topic, then go through different strategies and strength buckets and variations of scenarios within that topic. For example, c-betting on Ace-high boards, c-betting on monotone boards, etc. You should study the different routes that a hand can take. That will enable you to dive really deeply into the subject and get a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of the topic. This might be by going through solver output or you might be reviewing stats and hands based on someone

else’s research. When it comes to reviewing hands in deep work, the difference here is that you are going very deeply into a subject. You choose a helpful subject, create a hypothesis, and then find appropriate solutions and hands in your database to test. A session review is focused on reviewing the hands you have played recently, independent of the topic, and then finding answers. It’s a different process. In general, it’s more valuable to spend a lot of time based on a specific topic instead of finding random recent hands to review. The reason is because the work will then be more focused. There are certain situations in the game that are more important to fix than others. By focusing on a topic that is highly influential for your win rate, you are really able to fix those leaks and obtain a greater understanding of this specific subject that will be very important to your bottom line. However, if you focus on individual hands the problem is that your study will be quite random. So, decide, what topics are you going to review and learn more about? Sometimes it’s going to be spots that are actually quite insignificant to your bottom line. And by doing a lot of session reviews you can easily “waste” a lot of time on reviewing insignificant spots. That’s why you should spend most of your time in deep work. Meditation and visualization can also be considered deep work as you are going through the same process with yourself as the subject.

Learning Type Hierarchy

Diagram 145 Diagram 145 illustrates the hierarchy of learning. Deep learning is at the bottom and builds your deepest and most fundamental understanding of the game. Then session reviews, warm-up and right at the top is the play and study session. All learning sessions are important but to a different degree. When we talk about the ratio of study-to-play time, you should realize that most of the time spent away from the table should go into deep work. A lot of people talk about the hours that you put in away from the table but watching some videos and looking at your biggest pots is not enough. When you are following a certain process over and over again, you will become faster and smarter at it. For example, a process would be watching a training video, taking notes, then doing three to five quizzes afterwards. Then finding hands in your database and formulating good questions to ask the poker community or to submit in a Q&A session to get feedback. That’s one process. If you implement cycles repeatedly you will become smarter and more efficient. And that’s really the goal here. To have sessions away from the table that are deep and profound and that at the same time are not going to eat up hours and hours of your time. And the way to do that is by not having random sessions away from the table but to be focused on a certain process

that you are integrating continually. What that process looks like depends on your preferences, your learning type, and on your existing skill set and understanding of certain concepts. It varies from individual to individual. The point though is that you have to find a certain improvement cycle that works best for your current situation and it should be mainly based on deep work. If you are reviewing a lot of random hands from recent sessions then, essentially, you are wasting your time.

Study-to-play Ratio Examples How much you study or play depends on your current situation and the goals that you have. Example 1: Total Beginner The current situation for a total beginner is that they have little experience of PLO and start off with a $1,000 bankroll. This enables them to play PLO $10 with 100 buy-ins. The goals of this player is to become a winning player at PLO $50 online with a win rate over 5bb/100 and a bankroll of $5,000. This player is trying to make quite a jump and their goals might be like yours. This player is trying to move up to a stake where they can make an hourly that is significant to their real life. This player is looking to climb up multiple stakes in a reasonable timeframe. There are a few different paths I am going to showcase for you now. You can then think about them and try to figure out what would make the most sense to you. Path 1: “Volume” Study 5h/week, play 20h/week. This would equal a study-to-play ratio of 1to-4. This is the path that most people choose as a default. Path 2: “Balanced” Study 10h/week, play 10h/week. This would equal a study-to-play ratio of 1to-1. Path 3: “Learner” Study 15h/week, play 5h/week. This would equal a study-to-play ratio of 3to-1.

After One Month The player who followed the “volume” path has spent 20 hours studying and 80 hours playing. Assuming a 1bb/100 win rate and 400 hands per hour they played 32,000 hands and won $32. The win rate of this player is quite low because so far they have only spent 20 hours studying PLO. The player who followed the “balanced” path has spent 40 hours studying and also played for 40 hours. Assuming a 2bb/100 win rate and 400 hands per hour they played 16,000 hands and won $32. This player has a higher win rate because they have studied twice as much as “the volume player”. This player has played only half of the hands of the volume player but they have double the win rate, leading to an equal amount in winnings. The player who followed the “learner” path has studied for 60 hours and played for 20 hours. Assuming a 3bb/100 win rate and 400 hands per hour, they played 8,000 hands and won $24. After Three Months The “Volume” player has been studying for 60 hours in total and has played for 240 hours. Assuming a 4bb/100 win rate and 400 hands/hour, they played 96,000 hands and won $384. The “Balanced” player has been studying for 120 hours and played for 120 hours. Assuming a 5bb/100 win rate and 400 hands/hour, they played 48,000 hands and won $240. This player has a better win rate because they are less burnt out and studied more. The “Learner” player has been studying for 180 hours total and played 60 hours in total. Assuming a 6bb/100 win rate and 400 hands/hour, they played 24,000 hands and won $144. This player is able to do more deep work than the previous two players and therefore he has a higher win rate. Who would you rather be? “Volume Player” Bankroll: $1,384, has studied 120 hours. 4bb/100 win rate. “Balanced Player” Bankroll: $1,240 and has studied for 240 hours. 5bb/100 win rate. “Learner Player” Bankroll: $1,144 and has studied for 360 hours. 6bb/100 win rate. Who is closer to their goal of beating PLO $50?

Unfortunately, no one is really that much closer. So far, these players didn’t take any shots and didn’t bring in any more money from outside poker. By taking such a conservative approach, it could take a long time before they are able to move up in stakes. Even if the learner played another 100,000 hands in the next three months at a 6bb/100 win rate, they would only earn $600 more at PLO $10. For most of us, fuelling the bankroll with some extra money from our main source of income is a much better idea than trying to play hundreds of thousands of hands before having the bankroll to move up. Realize, that while you are playing at the lower limits you really shouldn’t care about volume at all. Instead, you should care about knowledge and skills. Taking variance into consideration, it’s hard to say where their bankroll is going to be. What is certain, is that the “Learner” has the most potential to be a long-term winner in the game because their study routines and their understanding of the game is much deeper than the other two players. They are the one most likely to be able to take a successful shot at PLO $25. The player that will climb up the stakes the fastest is the one who has more success taking shots and then sticking to a new level, until they are ready to take the next shot. That’s how players move up in stakes in a reasonable timeframe. A lot of players really enjoy playing poker and I completely understand that. Because if I didn’t love playing poker, I wouldn’t have been a professional poker player for more than 10 years. But at the same time, you have to be realistic with your goals and understand what you are trying to get out of poker. If the answer is that you don’t only want to have fun while playing poker but you also want to use poker as a vehicle in order to make more money than you need to thoroughly review the approach you are taking in order to achieve your goal. All three options are viable but you have to ask yourself which one is most congruent with your goals. Even if you are playing much higher stakes right now than PLO $10 and your goal isn’t PLO $50, but maybe PLO $2,000, you should still ask yourself the same thing. Is the best approach to put in the volume and not to try to become much

better? What will make you confident that you can actually beat the higher stakes and that you can take some shots? If you are playing higher stakes, for example PLO $200, and you want to play PLO $1,000, it’s a 5x jump. At PLO $200 there are already quite a few people playing who are professional poker players. The issue here is that what they are making in poker is pretty much their total income. They are using their winnings to support themselves and that doesn’t allow them to move up in stakes because they can’t build a bankroll. At that point you have to ask yourself, “Okay maybe instead of grinding a bit more and making $500 more a month, why don’t I just try to study more and change my lifestyle a little bit?” Or maybe you can try to make some money outside of poker in order to increase your bankroll to enable you to take a shot at the next stake after you have put in a substantial amount of study time away from the table. Whatever your goal is, choose the path that makes the most sense to you and don’t become attached to just putting in massive amounts of volume. I hope this book will help you crush the small stakes. If you enjoy playing PLO, seek out more resources and keep working on your game and moving up. Good luck! Fernando