I play at 6-max cash games and many many players flat call too often from early position, generating a huge amount of multiway pots and squeezes from TAG's in late position
I think that it is a toss up between too many players over Limping and/or Over Folding to large river bets on very draw heavy boards that missed. Or calling 3-Bets and folding to any C-Bet on the Flop that doesnt improve their hand or make any possible stronger pairs than the flop cards (pocket over pairs). Basically calling 3-Bets hoping to “set mine” then folding every flop when they miss, which you are basically just hoping to hit 1 of 2 cards on the flop and basically burning money. I myself am currently working on fixing this issue or finding out how to solve this problem especially when calling 3-Bets with middling pocket pairs 99-QQ when the Flop contains any over cards to my pair. Thoughts?
@@josheisert8380, Jonathan did talk about that a little, although I would like to hear him speak on the subject more. Hopefully, we all understand that it takes more than just a couple of rounds to determine table dynamics. Yes, there are tables where it becomes quite obvious who is who quicker than usual. Keep grinden'!
Same hahaha. It’s the classic “they have the nuts or a bluff” spot. Jonathan explains at these levels, when the opponent is dying to get their money in. They usually have it. I started folding more in those spots and seeing it work.
@@greaseweeklygames I've definitely noticed this trend in a lot of players. Feels so good. The hard part is giving up a made hand when they play back and throw up the red flags haha
Same here.I threw GTO and blocker theory out the window and stuck a post-it on my laptop with “THEY ALWAYS HAVE IT…JUST FOLD!!” and definetly lose way less 😂
I play in the nittiest room in America (Coconut Creek in Florida). Over folding rivers just prints money. You can over fold so exploitatively it's just hilarious. Interestingly it's so insanely tight most sessions that some of this videos very good points become somewhat moot.
Very good video with good examples. My main mistake is the hero calling the river. Which makes you win 15 small pots and then losing everything i won + a part of my stack on a call of a nut hand from my opponent. Rest of the tips i also should do more but #3 is 100% my biggest mistake.
John I been tuned in for like a year, I study everyday and I play live cash games everyday. I been playing for 4 years but studying hard for like 11 months. I’ve improved drastically and I’m on my 15th winning session in a row. Solid fundamentals and plenty of time at the table have made the difference. Not to mention these videos. Thanks a lot! I appreciate all the effort and information contained in these videos. I’m almost debt free from poker alone 🙏🏿💯
I’m glad I read this. I recently started playing live cash games after studying for awhile now (been playing 15 years but health problems) and I have won my first 3 sessions. I’m averaging $40 an hr but knowing you are at 15 in a row is good to hear cause I wasn’t sure how long I could really go without losing. I know it’s easy to lose but my style isn’t splurging and I have great fundamentals. Good luck hope your run continues and I really hope I can catch up to you. 👍🏼😎
I am watching this video the day after calling almost this exact board on the river in a 150k tournament taking me from 2nd place right after bubble to near the bottom of list. Made the same mistake in a 2/5 game where the button called $40 preflop to kill me for over 2k with 2 pair .... K5🙄 . I wish I watched this 3 days ago bad.
Comment about the aces hand: the problem is that if i bet small on the turn as u said they will take that as weakness and try to bluff with maybe a king only so that way i will he over folding thus exploitable right? I appreciate your feedback qnd sorry for my mediocre english
I lost out in an over 4 figure Pot in a Low Stakes game last night by NOT Hero Calling a River with AQ on a Board of 10 Q Rag 10 K. I though he might have had AK when he shoved on my River bet. He was Stone Colding with A6
Because when you get 4-bet you have an easy fold. You don't want to 3-bet with AJs/ATs, get 4-bet, then be forced to fold. Getting 4-bet w/ the offsuit variety is an easy fold after you 3-bet
John, how is my 3 bet bluff range effected if opponents in 1 2 are open raising about 15 PFR but to 8 bb or even 10 bb. I see this a lot and the players often do not fold to 3 bets. Do I want to rise almost 25 bb 3 betting with A T off against someone who almost always calls? Sometimes I do not know if they will fold, but I got to risk almost 25 bb to find out? I play online poker where most opens are 2 x or 3x and we never see 10x. I am winning online and in live poker, I got many of your books, and have been a premium member who took the 3 bet challenge a while back, and I still can not figure out what to do in this scenario with large open raise sizes. The SPR will also be very low when 3 betting against these people who open so large a size. Also is it possible to still have board coverage with a linear 3 betting range against these call station types?
They miss the flop most of the time so when you 3bet with your A10o you don’t give up when called. That’s when the flop cbet will win you the pot a lot of the time usually when heads-up. Now I would t 3bet A10o if I know there is gonna be 4 callers. That’s when you tighten up and 3bet with linear hands. Remember there is a reason or should be to do anything so if you can’t come up with a good reason to 3bet then call or fold.
I love the false premise that has been pushed for years about having an Ace in your hand makes it less likely your opponent(s) have one. That is utter and complete nonsense for all practical purposes when GAMBLING and risking one's money. At a table of 9 players, 18 hole cards will be dealt out PRE-FLOP. If you have one of the A's in your hand, that means the chances of someone else having one are 3 out of 16 (3 A's left in the deck and 16 other hole cards dealt out) and if you have a crappy kicker, then odds are you are behind in the hand as well. How many times have you raised with AK and lose to someone with A9 or worse, and then the opposite, re-raise pre-flop with A 2, 5 or 7 suited and lose to AK off suit? Yeah, I thought so.
Way off base here. Let's rewrite the list, for the real world. Rule #1 - do not play online Rule #2 - when playing at casinos almost all the people you play against are the same, loose aggressive and dumb. They have a short attention span and no memory they're like human goldfish. Don't go raising 68 suited thinking these players will give you credit or anything just play very straight forward. #3 - bet your good hands (build the pot, fast. Play big hands fast, flop a set bet it! Etc) and do not bluff unless the player in the pot with you might actually fold or if betting is the only way you can win then by all means consider it. But generally speaking, ABC poker is best. Unless you are violating rule #1 and playing online and God help you if you are. That's the hardest way to make a living in the world IMO.
Ur goofy! Gtfoh with your criticism! Don’t watch him if you don’t like it because ALOT of us love what he does and has no issue like you which is just a weird complaint.
Have you played in any of the Texas rooms? This is how this goes: 1/2 UTG raises $10 UTG + 2 calls UTG + 3 calls, you are cutoff w/AJ suited and 3 bet to $40 sm blind calls, bb calls, UTG calls, UTG +2 calls, UTG + 4 calls.
Thanks Johnathan. I just literally played $1/$2 NLHE yesterday at my local casino and did the exact thing with my aces. I was in BB and had 3 limpers so I made it $10 and got one two callers MP player and the button. Flop is Q 10 3 rainbow, so I continuation bet and the MP player looks confused but calls. Turns brings another 10 and this time he raises me. I made the call, and also check called on the river on another brick (I think it was as 5). He had 7c10c for trips on the turn. Sucks, but I lost about $135 extra on that hand and I could have just folded. The player seemed to be a decent player, so I thought maybe he was semi bluffing with a straight draw, but as you stated for low stakes players....they only bet confidently with 2 pair or higher.
I totally see how you would say that if you were hip to this. Makes absolute sense, especially if you factor in ranges, it seems like some pretty low hanging fruit at least in the games iPlay
I learned about range advantage through your training and learned how to bluff with it occasionally and it works which added a lot of money into the bankroll, your training changed my life so much thanks so much again Johnathan
This is brutal to listen to regardless of any valuable advice given, the unnatural cadence with the whiny voice is hilarious I've never seen this guy before
Biggest mistake is sitting at the wrong table. Sitting at a table full of splashy rec players is 100000% better than sitting at a table filled with regs. Regs won't give you action when they realize you're a rec player (why bluff the calling station?) and will exploit by extremely tight on the flop but will call pre flop somewhat wide (they won't 3 bet premiums because you're a rec player, duh. they'll wait till they flop top pair top kicker before putting money in the pot or other strong draws). their style of play is stale and pretty obvious, but hard to beat.
How would someone adjust to 3-betting more against larger opening sizes? My local 1/2 game is capped at a $300 buyin and raise sizes are usually $12-$15 preflop. This means my IP and OOP 3-bet sizes are going to be roughly $45/$60 respectively, possibly even larger against players that love to call. Putting in 20% of my stack makes it so I don't usually 3-bet hands like TT in spots I usually would in an online 1/2 game for example. I usually just stick to a linear 3-betting range and tend to not bluff. Is there a way to adjust for this? Possibly playing more like a 2/5 game but w/ a 60bb stack?
my local game has the exact same issue (300 buy in 1-2 with massive preflop raises). what i've found effective is to exploit them by 3 betting pre-flop and size in a way to be all in on the turn/river especially if you get good equity or made hands. but you do have to make a lot of tight folds post flop which is awkward
Mr. Little, Bravo sir, bravo. I watched this video 6 times and tested it, and it works. I have hit people so hard with your strategy on day two of using it that they left the table. I lost about 40$, setting up my 3-bet bluffet on a .25/.50 table. I spent two hours today and left the table up 90$. I'll take it, slow grind. I love the Jedi mind tricks 😂. I can see their heads up exploding as I destroy them 🤯. I went on a 5 hand run, I had18$ left out of my 40$ at the start of it, after grinding for an 1.3 hours. Thanks, I was playing horrible poker before your videos. I understand why they made fun of me at tables 😂. They're not laughing anymore though! You are the goat, I know of other pros, and I never understood them. What you say makes sense, and it's hilarious to think about when I'm exacting my revenge 😎.
I don’t get it this guys always talking about how bad J4o is but I’m not really hearing that from other poker content creators or coaches that it’s genuinely that bad
Would alter this in any way if the 1-3 game has a larger than normal open on average. For example a 1-3 game that player generally open for $15-20. But stacks are still in the $150-400 range.
Dang, if the premium subscription was not $649, or that one could at least pay $69/month instead.. :( thanks for this vid, great content! Hopefully I can beat micro/small soon and invest in the premium subscription.
I ran my a stats analyses on river bets by my general opponents at online on micro stakes. Only 22% sub top pair weak kicker at showdown. In big pots (More than 1/4 of their stack and more than 20bb), this drops down to 15%. So yeah, you can easily fold anything less than 2 pairs without any regrets, and depending on the board, even more so.
Most 1-2 or 1-3 NLH pots are multi-player. Often Several players call a raise if it's not too big just to see the flop. So a 3-bet has to be really big to isolate. You have to realize player tendencies, and the fact that you will likely be called by loose players. A 3-bet will often succeed in making the action heads-up, but you need to plan... Will I continue barreling to the river in this situation? A tight image can help 3-bet bluffs, but there still may be multiple callers. I put low-stakes players into 2 categories: those who care about the money, and those who want fun. I had good luck today and made $228 in 5 hours, and wasn't a total rock, but definitely more cautious than most.
I dont fully agree with mistake 3, at low stakes people tend to either never bluff on the river, or they bluff pretty much every hand on the river. Never hero calling is perhaps best against the majority of players but once you know someone is bluffing on the river, hero calling is perhaps the most profitable thing you can do.
I like the first tip of 3 betting more often. My question is how often? I have found that in many spots that this is a perfect way too simply bleed chips. Either because opponents call, see the flop and hit or too many opponents stick around after the 3 bet anyways. Either way I did this with 2 hands the other night and needed up going multi-way to the flop, not hitting while facing aggression.
I understand the idea of playing having a loose aggro image to get paid, but that means you actually have to have it when you bet big? How do you deal with having this image when you go card dead and it becomes harder to bluff your way out of hands? If you tighten up too long waiting to capitalize on that image they will notice that too
I’m always at a table where 2 seats are catching ALL the cards and strategy gos out the window because those 2 seats are calling everything and catching everything. 😔
If you have a back door flush on a non paired board or a draw to the high end of a straight on a rainbow board; you can take some pressure. Early bets ( from players who have others to act behind ) are accounted stronger than later bets ( priced in players who may feel they have a range advantage ) still top pair on a wet board - one might raise pot if one paired an ace and one could rule out made flushes and straights. If one of your opponents have a set they may reraise and you can fold. If they have a draw they may call. Either way you can check the hand down and go for thin value on the river if everything missed. If they have been concealing a set they will reraise at that point. Do not hero call, muck your pair and fight another day. If a flush or straight comes in and you are confident you can check it to them to see what value they place on their hand. If they overbet/shove get out. If they too go for thin value and you have blockers to the nuts (Ace of three of the suit on the board) here you can attempt a bluff. Sizing in online games is your communication, use a table base to double check your sizing (if not against the rules and if your maths is good - if your maths is not so good online play is not for you until you train up. Not even joking. Study or go bust.) Ratio between your chance of hitting the stone cold nuts and missing compared with the Ratio of what is currently in pot and your remaining stack size (if they have you covered i.e. are playing more chips than you) that being as much as you might win; those ratios ought to be better than equal. That is if 8 dollars are in the middle and you hold 80 behind and your opponent has more, so pot:stack ratio is 1 to 10 (simplified) You hold ace king spades and two are on the board - suit has thirteen cards, assume opponent holds one ratios are equalizing 1:7 at this point - bet towards ensuring it remains probability profitable. Math helps avoid catastrophe. If the board pairs, somebody's boat may have docked and their betting will increase on size or freqiency or both. You must must must understand the math online even for the lowest of stakes. Steve Ungar could watch a deck of cards peeled of and name the last hidden card. There are geniuses out there. Do not ever think you are the smartest poker player at the table, it will be your undoing. Do not shove or call any large bet on river without being nutted or very close to nutted, where the opponent is very unlikely to have you beat. Remember there was a guy who died at the poker table when his boat met a better boat. Same with flushes and straights. If it is not the nuts facing a shove from an otherwise sensible player it saves you money to fold. Queen high flushes, counterfeited two pair, low end of straight even King high flush on a four suit board. Play cautious online and, if I could add something of my own, do not bet more than you could earn in a day online. Great recreation but very few tells and so very sensible play unless you are in a hidden position to bluff. Snipers do not stand in the open - i.e do not attempt an obvious bluff on a board so wet the dealer has wellies on but shoot from cover, that is where a board got dryer rather than wetter but you propose still to have a winner that fits your range/position. One shot only. If you miss, you get away! Beginner players must always play their cards. Professionals can and do play the player. Online there are no tells, no live reads. Play your cards well but not too heavily. There is always the next hand.
The reason big river bets are rarely bluffs is because players making those bets expect their opponents to be calling stations incapable of making tight folds so they wouldn’t dare bluff into them, so they either bet to exploit that or give up thinking bluffing is futile
The Chart in "mistake 1" says to always 3 bet the QTs. The example hand in mistake 2 shows calling a raise with QTs in BB. Can you explain when it would be better to just call with that as opposed to raising?
Isn’t calling with the pocket aces on the turn a -EV play? You’re getting 25% pot odds for 20% equity . What is the purpose of that call if you’re not willing to go to showdown?
The more I think about the more I think the aces were good in that scenario…what cards were you scared of exactly besides the jack? He played it like he had a king from my POV
Hi JL, good stuff. I noticed your ranges, both RFI and 3!, are slightly different compared to for an example GTOW's ranges regardless of rake structures and RFI sizes. Any reason why? Have you categorized some indifferent 0 EV starting hands as folds instead of raises/calls? Also I've noticed making certain deviations against other regs has been helpful, such as 3-betting/4-betting larger or smaller than normal in order to put them in spots they probably have not studied that much before due to different range dynamics, would be interesting hear your thoughts on these kinds of things.
I didn't understand why you would 3 bet with Q9s or J9s but listening to this, if I'm understanding correctly, it will give you the information you need if a 4 bet comes to get out and otherwise it has a bunch of blockers with hands you don't need to see the flop if raised (unlike KTs for example where you want to see the flop)? The problem I have is it seems that Q9s or J9s is always seems dominated even if you somewhat hit a board. If the flush comes, yeah it is good but not great, pairs - no real kicker, etc.
Lately, I haven't gotten any action on my big hands. On the other hand, I am not getting any action on my bluffs. I think everyone is playing me to be old man coffee. In both cases, "any" is an exaggeration, but it's close.
I 3bet the hands i should 3bet, not just the nuts. It does not, though , help me get paid off on my value. It really doesn't. In fact, I find no correlation whatsoever with how often I may bluff ( river or other street) , and how often I will get paid off. People do not pay me off. On my good sessions I will get all bluffs through. And on bad sessions- get caught on most bluffs, but still no value of mine gets called. Not a complaint, just how I play. I make most of my money on bluffs.
I always get paid off because I look young but I’m not. I don’t 3 bet a lot but I don’t seem to have a problem getting paid off. When you are playing good players then you need to balance your 3 bets more but bad players just don’t pay attention to your 3 bet frequency and pay me off anyway.
The raise is the 2nd bet as the 1st bet is whatever the 2nd person is raising (The 1st aggressive action!) So when someone re-raises that becomes the 3rd bet or 3-bet. Hope that helps!
Why does the audio in your videos keep dropping in and out? Oh, wait... nevermind, that's just the way you're delivering the dialogue. Would watch more of your vids, but I really just can't listen to that anymore!
When you played 1-2$ did you ever find very wild games where 3 bets always got called? I play in a very soft charity room game. It’s 1-2 std raise is 12-15 and a 50$ c bet is common. Villains all call preflop, and post flop too wide. Over fold river. You rarely have any fold equity pre river. Seems like 3 betting with only the best hands IS the exploit? Now if you can isolate although it’s very difficult then you can at times take a pot away on the river etc. but for the most part up til that point it seems like you have to be a nit. Any other insight? I literally didn’t play a hand for an hour 3 bet 8$ raise to 25 and all the limpers and blinds call 6 ways. I can’t imagine 3 betting with KJ suited against this table.
Keep in mind, that when you get 5 callers, if you have north of 16% equity (that you can realize), you're winning. If you win only a quarter of these pots, you're ahead of the game. You raise with AKs with five callers and the flop comes out 4d5c7d? Welp, you're out of luck here. You check/fold, and keep your powder dry for the next time. It can be boring and frustrating, but if you're playing against people who want to play badly, you can't stop them(and you don't want to). Just don't join them.
I played my first ever live game the other night at Winstar. It was a 1/2 game. I had Kh 8h, flop came AKK, he checked, and I bet about $25 into what I think was a $50 pot. He called, turn was a 7. He checked and I went all in for like 120 I think. He had KQ...Sadly. I wasn't going to fold a hand like that tho. I didn't think he had a K, I was thinking he had something like an Ace with marginal kicker or K with low card, But I was wrong
I punted 250bb tonight with AK vs KK on a Kxx flop. All the earnings gone in a single hand. I should have folded as I sensed a set from TAG opponent. This is my major leak at low stakes. I don't listen to my stomach enough. And I should protect my stack more. This is another common low stakes leak. PS: TAG opponent punted all his stack right after to a better flush vs a fish 💩
i definitely have the hero calling problem. recently hero called with a busted ace high flush draw on a paired board where all draws missed. i was right that my opponent was bluffing, and felt good to win a 1k pot in 2-3 but doesn't mean it was a good call
