Completely agree. I play with the same group of 2-5 guys and they’ll bring up a hand we played 2 hours ago and they can never remember the board or action most of the times. One guy thinks I’m a nit because I correctly folded a full house to him once and showed it, it’s all he remembers me for
Mostly agree. At lower stakes, we shouldn't necessarily be trying to force balance in spots where it doesn't drive much EV. There's widespread agreement that players don't bluff enough in live poker, but that's probably because so many players are so sticky. Bluffing sticky players for the sake of being balanced is just torching money.
This is very good lesson in being clear what story you are telling with your action. The hero lost sight of this, but Bart notices immediately. It would have been interesting if the hero put out what really looks like a blocker bet. Maybe, just maybe that would have worked. At least it would look less bizarre than a jam, and you don’t risk everything.
15:20 “I’m playing as balanced as I possibly can…what bluffs do I have on this river?” You only need bluffs as balance if you actually have some value. I just don’t see what 8x hero has here that he needs to balance.
I really like this comment. There should be 66% value for a pot sized shove to be balanced. There just isn't enough value that wants to shove this particular river imo.
@@EllieBanks333I think Bart addresses A8dd…does hero really check-raise that hand on the flop? Seems like it would just risk folding out worse hands. Regards needing an 8 to value bet…well clearly not since hero could have had TT or even AK here and stacked his opponent. But does hero really jam those hands on the river?
@@JohnSmith-nx7zj As to the river jam, it looked weird to me. It's the contrast with turn sizing. Hero going 300 on turn, then jumping to nearly 1200 on river looks suspect to me.
My only real take away here is that you need to merge bet for value on the river more on dicey runouts if you think your opponent will be thinking you're polar. If villain is ruling out all sets and 2 pairs by the river, this is all the more reason to value bet those hands and give up on bluffs.
@@Daniel-fo9jfnot all areas have games bigger than 2/5. I play full time in a large city where 2/3 match is the biggest regular nl game. We get 2/5 going on weekends occasionally but all the action is in Omaha. Sad but true. Many cities 2/5 is the biggest game offered. Your statement is very limited in scope.
I agree. Ive seen this kind of thing happen so often its incredible. You really can make a lot betting merged hands in a polar spot. At 2/3 a couple days ago i saw a single raised pot vs BB caller where IP player went bet large, bet large, overbet shove on a 8877T board with QQ. I could not believe it. The BB player called him down w Ace high and said I didn't think he had an 8. I was mind blown by both players. The IP player i have seen a lot and at more than one poker room so I believe he is a professional. He knows how to take these people to value town.
Why might a 2 on the river make villain more inclined to fold? Wouldn't the 6 make villain more inclined to fold because hero would have more hands that get there with 6 instead of a 2?
Video is less about balance and more about recognizing that V is a calling station so bluffing the turn is the mistake in my eyes. Even though we do pick up more straight equity after we get called on our XR, we need to play passively OOP again against this specific player type. I'm fine with the play until I see that my opponent will call me down with almost the worst Ax combo.
I think the small turn sizing is the mistake, not necessarily the bet. V might fold A5o to a larger bet, like more than 80% pot, but hero is giving him too good a price. It doesn't make sense for hero to x/r flop, and then bet small on turn, and then jam river. This line is basically repping exactly J8dd, which isn't going to be 3Bing much from the SB.
Everything went off the rails because in a 3bet pot like this it's hard to have enough leverage to use a polarized betting strategy (unless you're super deep) which is essential for pulling off big bluffs. That's why you usually see over bets executed successfully in single-raised pots
V isnt a calling station. Its a terrible bluff I call garbage like this all day. Love doubling up with nothing but a ragged Ace and watching scrubs cry then snap folding to any pitiful value bet they throw in even a min bet LOL. Bart clearly explains why its a garbage bluff twice.
Caller is trying to be balanced yet is never doing the smallish turn bet with value here so ironically he ends up in a spot where he only has bluffs. Guarantee this guy would bet 400-500 on the turn with TT with his logic of "what hands would call 300 that would fold to 400-500." The inconsistency is trying to play his hand and not his range on the turn and get cheap fold equity by only betting $300 then switching that logic around to the river where he's trying to "balance" by having bluffs in this spot.
MGM Springfield $2-$5 is such a tight-knit reggy game. Very nice players, pleasant room in general nothing bad to say on a personal level. But if anyone plans on playing there I can say that it is the tightest $2-$5 game on the East Coast and I have played in them all with the exception of some Florida rooms. You have been warned.
Maybe you make more money at the low stakes with the river give up, but if you’re not finding the right bluffs you will never reach the nosebleeds. Maybe that’s not your goal, but something to bare in mind.
Think I'm over betting this turn card if I x/r this flop, then giving up on river if V calls. Our flop x/r is repping a super narrow range of sets/2P or some combo draws that complete on turn, like J8dd. It helps to have the Jd in our hand here, but this is just a terrible run out to continue bluffing once V calls turn. He's not buying that we turned the nuts, and our sets/2P don't like jamming this river.
Got V's hand spoiled for me so I can say the double barrel was clever. V should've folded that A5 just as Bart said, but V prolly felt that there's virtually no 8x in H's range. Bart's evaluation was solid
Maybe just don't jam here with value? Then you're balanced. Just block-call with your strong hands, block-fold with some middling hands and some bluffs.
Villain also probably way more likely to fold (be concerned) with something that looks like a value bet than a shove, which looks like what it is - bluff
It seems to me that in this situation there is nothing to balance a bluff against. That's why the villain called. Hero would never get to the river with an 8 and so would never be betting for value here. So bluffing is actually UN-balanced.
The line the player took leading up to the river, before the one liner to the straight came out, caps his range to hands that rarely have 8s, it makes the river jam seem suspicious for sure.
If you care about grinding a bankroll and moving up stakes like he said you dont care about being balanced vs 3 dudes who open limped. Villian flicked in over 300bb with 1 pair no kicker in a multiway spot to a check raise thats what you need to learn to exploit
The WTF look!! I had that plastered on my face the other day facing a $400 river bet - while questioning my decision on the turn that I would call-down with a weak top pair. He made the flush - WTF! =)
Bro laughing right st the caller. Very unbalanced. LoL Just kidding around. This was a gem of a episode. Thanks for sharing and educating. I definitely learned a lot.
This hand was weird & confusing. I have no clue what the caller was talking about when he explained his flop check. I wonder if villain is just bad or if he picked up something from hero's sudden change of mind. I thought Bart was spot on regarding the turn sizing having 0 fold equity & also that this river is a give up. Although I was surprised by villains holding of A5. I was thinking that all of villains AX were now too good to fold, because he really should have mostly aces up or a straight OR maybe he has like a soft AQo that he just flatted pre. Villain either read hero perfect or he is a "calling station". But then his comment of "how do you get here with a made hand?" makes me think he's just dumb. Is he really asserting hero would only bet a straight on the river here?? He does block hero having AA, but is there a reason that he cannot have TT? Or AT? Maybe he was just picking up on the sizing jump from 300 to almost 1200 from turn to river. Because that does look suspect. Oh! I almost forgot hero's weird statement about never doing this with AXdd on flop. That hurt my brain since that would be a great check-raise hand.
I ageee that in certain spots like this we are only out-leveling ourselves like on this river if we assume the average live 2/5 villain will fold an ace with a one liner out there because they just are not thinking on that level. It is the same reason that with a set or aces up we should jam hoping to extract thin(ish) value from an ace. There are definitely live 2/5 tables with certain players where we need to balance our ranges in all spots with bluffs, but then again it would be poor games selection to play at a table with all solid balanced regs.when live poker is so soft.
When caller says he wants to “balance” here, I think of Princess Bride. “You keep using this word, but I do not think it means what you think it means. 😊
The truth for the end is that, your bluffs are exactly what you have, KQ's and other KJ's, some under pairs, sone combos of Tx and some marginal suited aces.
