How To CRUSH Tough Cash Games 

Hey Jon, it has been a long time. I've created a short hand for picking opening size. As a rule of thumb, I look at the effective stacks between me and the BB player. If it is greater than 50BBs I open 3x. If it is between 25BBs and 50BBs I open 2.5x. If it is less than 25BBs then I open 2x. Just wondering what your thoughts were on this. Too simplistic or good? Also when I bet and get a BB caller and he checks the flop, I've been betting 1/3 pot pretty much always regardless of what I have. I've heard this is good since BB usually has junk. Thoughts? Is it foolish to bet 1/3 pot on the flop as a standard against somebody who called IP? As a standard, I bet 1/3 on flop, 4/5 on turn, and variable on river. I feel like this is too simplistic and could do better, but not really sure. Perhaps 1/2 flop, 2/3 turn, variable on river is better? I struggle with the correct sizing to use on different boards. If I bet small, I can do it more often and get folds when I have nothing, but I don't get paid off as much with my premiums. If I bet large I can get paid off on my big hands, but bluffs become pretty expensive. Should I make exceptions with certain types of hands or should I always pick the same size regardless of my holding? Been watching a few of your vids. They are awesome, keep it up!

@@KyleMart That's a fine way to judge RFI size. I like it. Also take into account position. In general, you can use a slightly smaller size UTG than on the BTN with your whole range. Against weak players, betting 1/3 with your range as the IP raiser is okay. Some boards though, you will want to check much more often than others. For example, 654r, against BB you should check much more often than AK3. Always think about your range advantage. If you have a very large range advantage, betting 1/3 with range is usually not too bad. When deep-stacked, and you have the range advantage and nut advantage, using a larger sizing like 2/3 or more is best.

Cashgames has always been my thing in poker and for me in tournaments, alltho I've won about 30 tournaments by now it's just not my thing cuz of the incontrollable variance... On cashgames you can get some kind of grip, what I wanted to say especially is that I don't really agree online players are so good lol, really they are countless of terrible players online, for example that will call with nothing, make dangerous bluffs etc where u can get a lot from them, so I don't really agree on that, however I don't have expierence Live so I can't compare, but I do know how it is online... What you say is true though, even good/smart players make mistakes, when they have a good hand they might call an allin easily. I do believe however in the past online it was more like you say it is still now in Live games, considering it's not big tournaments. Probably less loose play that's right, but if you are patient I think it's not so hard to be a winning player online, well if you don't play on the highest stakes right away...

man knows all the good moves :D cheers Jonathan :)

Awesome, I'm glad you like it!

Awesome, I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks Louis! It is available now, I hope you enjoy it!

Yep, overall the player pool will be tougher, but you can often find tables that are very similar to the average 1/2 game. I think it's fine to take a couple of shots, perhaps 2k, and then if it doesn't go well, move back down.

I was thinking of buying in to a £1/£2 game for the minimum instead of a £1/£1 game for the minimum because the rake is 5% not 10% and I'm ok playing short stacked. Worth considering and stakes don't always equate to skill.

Thanks! In general, you want to take notes and try to classify players in groups with color, and more in-depth notes in the text. First, you want to find out if the player is loose vs tight, and passive vs aggressive. The weaker the player the easier the description is. Then in notes, put more specifics to help you. If you see someone call 84s in the CO to a LJ open, you can put they are way too splashy and use that to exploit them in future hands. Also, specific notes such as if the player will only double barrel bluff, but won't triple barrel bluff that is very important information to know. In general, make sure you've played tons of hands with the person before suggesting something definitely, but nice to know which lines or bet sizes lean in which direction.

Great advice man thanks, off to Vegas in February for some live fun for my 40th so it’ll be an interesting comparison to playing online. Subscribed and loving your work!

@@happygolockey Awesome, I'm glad to hear that. Good luck in Vegas!

Thanks Christine!

What?

I like the BB view, it's easier to use the proper bet sizes when you have a lot of tables flying. Whichever you prefer is fine though.

Just play fundamentally sound, no matter the stakes. If people call too wide though, use a larger size with a tight range.

See PokerCoahcing.com/fundamentals

That's great, congratulations! Against these players, you want to play tighter ranges preflop and then look to extract max value from your value hands. When you show up with tighter ranges multiway, you will win pots less often than when HU, but you will be able to get more value when you make strong made hands.

Also i will be very happy if you answer me 1 more question! I played recently the second live tour of my life and i played some time i almost triple.my stuck to 55k i was not extremely but obviously tight because we didnt have antes so i didnt fight for pots so much! Anyway i took KK on button 1 limper with huge stuck 1k 2k blind i raise 6k and the limper called me flop AAJ he dont 25k in 15k pot! (I saw him in a previously hand to call a 20k all in 10k pot with kj in k 9 6 flop the opponent had 98 and shove with no reason!!) So i thought that he maybe overplay jack and i get busted the turn was ten and he played all in i just call and he had ace 10 what do you think about this hand it was really odd situation against an obvious bad player!

@@PokerCoaching thx very much the problem also is that they have realized that i am alot tighter than them so they dont pay me so blind us other players!

@@markosliodakis9436 You can still play tighter than them and increase your aggression. For example, you should 3-bet with a wide linear range. By increasing your frequency, they will likely fight harder with pots against you. This is great when they have too wide of ranges.

@@markosliodakis9436 This is an odd situation, but it happens. Typically, I you should be folding in these spots when they go all-in because you will increase the amount of pots you get to play against them. Sometimes you will just have AK/Q/J there and stack the opponent.

It depends on your volume, just do the math taking your win-rate into account. I think the easiest way is 2/5 live if you are a strong player.

Plaza Player +EV moves like this one: Flop a small flush, some agro youngster open jams with one flush card in his hand and a pair in the pocket. Call with 68% chance to win going forward. If you lose, like when one of the seven remaining flush cards come on the turn or river, that’s variance. If you’re calling money away with negative Expected Value, then you’re playing bad.

To some of you players it is!

@@PokerCoaching was us as in U.S. lol

It really depends. If you're properly rolled and have an edge, you typically want to play deeper because it will be more profitable. In general, chips flow to the left. You want to make sure you cover the players on your right. If the players on your right have 100bb and the player on your left has 500bb, you should just buy-in for 100bb. In general, I recommend buying in for 100bb and then looking to add more when your edge is large or the deep-stacks are on your right.

Awesome, I'm glad to hear that! I don't think that a broad tell can be attributed to these actions. In general, I think people who use this tactic, likely use it for one purpose (either bluffing or value), but I think that it depends from player to player.

This is my experience FWIW: Bad player, "I'll show": He wants the hand to be over with and is hoping you fold, giving you an extra incentive to do so. Therefore he is often bluffing, so you can call with marginal made hands. But beware as often bad players are nervous about the marginal made hands they are betting and want you to fold what they fear could be something better, so you may call only to find that you are just barely beat. Compliant and friendly attitudes often indicate weakness. A bad player that agrees to show usually does not have the nuts, however that does not mean that you can bluff them off their marginal hand as bad players are often suspicious and call down light. All that said, sometimes the bad player will have the nuts and just be excited to show the table what a big hand he made, not caring so much about whether he makes this final extra bet out of you or not. The nuts will feel more relaxed and happy and unconcerned, while marginal hands will be more friendly and compliant, interacting with you a bit more, a subtle distinction. Bad player, "I'm not showing": A confrontational attitude often indicates strength. The player wants to annoy you into a call because he has a monster. He wants to give you no extra incentive to fold since he wants your action. You should fold marginal hands. Good player: Good players often calmly agree to show regardless of the strength of their hand. You will sometimes see them show a good hand and sometimes show a bluff. Their response gives no information. Similarly, some players just frankly tell you that they never show as they have decided this long ahead of time. If they are frank and not confrontational about it, that's a strong hint that they are a good player and the tell gives no information. As for you being asked this question: Generally use "Sorry, I never show." This response reveals no current information and also protects your cards and strategy from being seen and used against you in the future. This response can also irritate a fish and generate more action for you with their weaker hands, amplifying their biggest mistakes, whether in this hand or in the future. However, if you are in a very soft game with many clearly recreational players with no grasp of fundamentals, always agreeing to show can lighten up the game, get your opponents having fun and gambling more, get them more relaxed and face up when playing against you, which can give you a bigger advantage. It doesn't feel good to sit there all night wondering what an opponent had, so don't put your fishy opponent through that misery and just show what you had. They will certainly not use the information to exploit you, they only want to see so they can feel emotional relief in the moment. Keep your fishy opponents having fun happy and gambling for as long as possible.

@@ThorIsHereGames , Thank you for an eloquently advised response to my questions , definitely enlighten me to think of this in a different manner , I appreciate what you have ascertained though your experience .

If you play lowstakes especially you'll have a lot of weaker players, gamblers etc and it can be really profitable to play relative weak hands to catch something, like suited connectors for example. I found out Zoom too and it's pretty cool cuz you can indeed wait for good hands, but not too long cuz you will get the blinds too. I haven't played live yet but I can assume you play far less hands and then the variance will much more affect you, that's why I like/prefer online play and mostly cash games.

@@bekeneel thanks for reply Neel! of course on ZOOM you see far more hands and you wait for the right spots that will come often rather then live play. so I tried to adding more drawing hands and try to avoid the most junk hands

Downswings happpen. Failure to understand them is a lack of a fundamental knowledge of poker. Be grateful that poker IS marketed as a get rich quick activity when it is a get a tiny bit wealthier if you work really hard !

Typically, as people drink more they become more loose/splashy. Against this player, understand that your variance will likely be high. Look to 3-bet them often with strong hands and value bet them constantly.

@@PokerCoaching Thanks I need to find a sober table to learn everyone is drunk cant learn 🙏

@@dannym5987 In almost all cases, the table with people drinking will be the softest and where you want to be.

@@PokerCoaching OK thanks I have to study was having to much fun now I'm serious 🦁👊

@@dannym5987 Ed Miller's book 'Playinh the Player'is very valuable. Follow Jonathan's advice too. Tables with loads of drunks will incease you variance hugely AND your ev too. This is great but will need ecperience and an understanding of how you will lose sometimes.

I don't even think there's anywhere in the world, be it online or live somewhere that you couldn't beat "crush". I used to have this idea too that those highstakes cashgames were full of expierenced pros that are very thoughtful and would be very hard to win against in long run, but that's really not the case, you'd be surprised how loose some of these players play and it's not cuz they play with lots of money that they are also smart. You have fish and bad players up to nl40k on pokerstars lol, I've seen several videos that proof that.

Nice!