MAX VALUE COURSE

Poker Maths

Learn the approximate 10-50% opening range and what it looks like
-if villain shows opening 63s from MP: we can assume they're opening 50% of hands thus we can use this information to exploit them

Poker is about winning the most/losing the least with medium/weak hands

Facing a 5bb all in preflop: total pot is 7.115bb (including antes) and we're in the BB
-we need to call 4bb to win 11.115bb therefore we need roughly 34%
-therefore we can call all in very wide

In poker it is not about the immediate amount of money won, but rather the amount won added up in the long run.

Our goal: to make the most positive EV plays as possible which will result in making more money in the long run

Exploitative Approach (always play this)
-putting opponents on precise ranges
-adjusting play in game for max value
-ability to fold big hands

GTO Approach
-only play this strategy vs unknowns that we do not have information on
-play this especially with shortstacks


Short Stack Plays (VERY IMPORTANT)
-20bb or less
-the best play is all in as we cannot see flop/turns/rivers profitably

Use shove charts for 15bb or less

Calling shoves with a short stack
POPULATION TENDS TO SHOVE TIGHTER THAN NASH
-therefore we have to call tighter than Nash's range
USE Nash's Shove Chart
-if we think villain is tighter, we can start folding the weakest parts of that range

Reshoving
3 main factors to consider:
1) Villain's opening range
2) Villain's calling range vs a shove (learn about their calling/folding frequency to a shove + their range)
3) Number of opponents left to act- less players behind = wider we can reshove

We aim to assign a proper range for our opponents and generate a strategy which counters that range
-put in the work outside the tables in order to find out the right strategies vs each player types

Use the re-shove charts for CO+ for 20bb or less

Opening Ranges
-use the charts (ALWAYS- unless we have a reason not to)
vs a lot of aggro 3bettors, we tighten our opening range and widen our value range
vs a lot of tight players, we widen our opening range and tighten our value range

Facing a 3bet
"what hands play best vs their range?"
if villain has many high card hands, we may want to continue with suited connectors rather than suited broadways
Opening late vs late position 3bet, we call wider ranges (K6s etc)
"the suited hands are GREAT and offsuited hands are JUNK"

Small Blind Plays
-RAISE A LOT
-> use the charts: include some limp/call, raise/call and raise/fold

3-Betting

3-Bet For Value:
Take into account: position, stack size, opening range, 4-betting range and players behind
When less than 40bb, our 3-bet value range is always JJ+ and AKo+ MINIMUM
-find adjustments based on opponent's range: if opponent is 4bet shoving wider then we need to adjust accordingly

Flatting
-high/medium equity and high equity realization
Do NOT flat hands other than premium suited broadways and strong pocket pairs from all positions other than the blinds, button and CO

3-Bet Bluffing
-high/medium equity but low equity realization hands
-we include hands like AJo, AQo, KTs, QTs in our 3bet bluff range and flat JTs, KJs

Playing from Big Blinds
-the more players in the pot, the tighter we should continue from BB when calling

To Flat or 3-Bet?  (USE CHARTS)
(we're aiming to 3bet rather than flat to prevent going 4 ways to the flop etc)
25-40bb
-vs late position open we often want to reshove most hands that we would want to continue with
-we add bluffs such as weak non-suited broadways
-we want to flat our strongest suited broadways vs EP open but 3bet all-in with less than 30bbs (especially vs LP opening range)
-we also want to 3bet bluff our weakest suited broadways (QTs, KTs)

40-60bb (USE CHARTS)
-include A5s in our bluffing range even for EP vs EP
-from SB we also want to include the strongest suited broadways in our bluffing range
-the deeper we are, the more we want to include suited connectors in our 3bet bluffing range as we can realize our equity much better
-> includes baby Axs in our 3bet bluffing range vs aggro opponents who are opening quite wide
-MP vs MP, we also want to include weak suited broadways in our 3betting bluff range (QTs, KTs, KQo, ATo, AJo and A7s-A9s)
-the later the position (CO, BU vs MP), the more flats we want to have in our range (all suited broadways and suited connectors and we bluff with baby Axs instead)

3-betting IP as a bluff: we want to 3bet hands which has low equity realization as a bluff (non-suited broadways)
3-betting OOP as a bluff: we want to 3bet hands with high equity realization as a bluff (suited connectors + baby suited Axs and Kxs)

In the SB, we are 3betting more hands as we're OOP (suited connectors, more Axs + ATo, AJo)
-we want to 3bet bluff hands with higher equity realization when called as we're OOP
In the BB vs later position open, we are 3betting more as a bluff (baby suited Kxs and Axs + suited broadways)

SB/BB vs BU (40-60bb)
-here we want to 3bet A LOT of hands as BU is often opening very wide range (suited Kxs, Q7s, J7s, T7s + suited connectors and weakest non-suited broadways (KTo, QTo)
-we want to 3bet even 94s, etc. as population is not defending enough within this stacksizes

The later the position open, the wider we can 3bet for value and as bluffs (non-suited broadways and baby suited Kxs)

Overall, we want to include our non-suited broadways in our 3bet bluffing range and flat most suited broadway combos instead

Postflop Plays

Factors to take into consideration

1) Hand Strength
-AQo on Q42rb board is much stronger than AQo on Q42sss due to the many flush combinations

2) Opponent's Range
-if we assume that villain is reshoving most hands containing an Ace preflop, we can safely bluff on an Ace high flop as they do not have any top pairs and it will yield a high success rate

3) Our Range
-if we open from EP and start bluffing on very low boards, villain can assume that our range is very high card heavy and thus call down lighter

4) Board Texture
-how does the flop affect our strategic considerations? Does it favor our range or our opponents' range?
-is it a dynamic board or a static board? (wet or dry boards?)
-always consider which cards will be good for our range, and which cards will be bad for our range

5) Betting Plan
-what do we want to achieve? Making a better hand to fold? Making a worse hand call?
-when we bet, we should always know whether we're making a pure bluff. semi-bluff or value bet?
"if we decide to bluff here, how often will this bluff be successful?"
"if we are value betting, how many streets of value do I have? What hands will call?"
NEVER BET WITHOUT KNOWING THE REASON

6) Stack-to-pot Ratio
-we can bet smaller with low SPR with our value hands to get all-in by the river
-low SPR increases pressure on opponents as it will be more likely for them to face an all-in decision

7) Position
-always better to be IP

8) Player Tendencies (EXPLOITATIVE)
vs Aggressive Opponents: we fast play our strong hands
vs Calling Station: never bluff and go for value
vs Tight Player: bluff and raise more

Playing IP as PFA
-just bet 30% of pot at 100% frequency
Think about equity advantage (range advantage)
-as PFA we often have a range advantage therefore we can bet more hands

Most players defend a 'static range' thus it does not matter the bet size we choose, they're always going to defend the same range of hands

Playing OOP as PFA

Split our range into 3 categories:
1) Hands that we bet
-any draws (including gutshots), strong top pair hands or better (66% pot)
-including backdoor draws occasionally
2) Hands that we check/call
-weak top pairs and middle pairs
3) Hands that we check/fold
-the rest of the hands

May include some monsters + semi bluffs in our check/raising range vs different player types

A few exceptions:
vs opponents who are underdefending ("fold to c-bet" stats of >50% with atleast 10 hands)
-then we can exploitatively bet 100% of our range in this spot

on A high and K high boards, population tends to underdefend therefore we can c-bet 100% with our blufs
on middle boards (8-Q), this tends to hit the IP calling range more often therefore we should check more hands

Blinds vs Blinds
-we want to bet at a very high frequency (except checking some middle strength hands that we can check/call with)
-we want to bet 100% of our air as a bluff and give up when called once
As the BB, we want to call any hands that connect to the board
-on dry boards, the BB also wants to call K high and A high hands
-> even if our hands do not improve, we have to opportunity to bluff the turn when the SB gives up

Defending vs C-bet

Minimum Defense Frequency (1- ALPHA)
-the minimum amount of time we need to defend in order to prevent opponent from auto-profiting
-> how often we need to call/raise a bet to avoid being free rolled with a bluff
e.g. if villain is betting 1/2 pot, their fold equity needs to be 33% in order for their bluffs to auto profit
thus, we need to defend 1-33% = 66% as our minimum defense frequency
e.g. villain bets 1/3 pot, therefore their bluffs need to work 133/33 = 25% of the time to be profitable
thus, we defend 75%

Rule 9.1
vs less than half pot size bet, we call/raise with:
-any pairs or better, any flush draws, gutshots, straight draws, any A high or two overcards with backdoor draws, any hands with multiple backdoor draws
-on DRY boards, we also call our Ace high and two overcards without backdoor draws

Rule 9.2
vs more than half pot size bet, we call/raise with
-middle pairs or better
-any flush draws or OESD
-on dry boards, we also call/raise with bottom pairs + gutshots

We can turn the weakest parts of our range into a bluff on the turn if villain checks to us

Raising vs C-bets
Reasons for Raising C-bets
1) Seizing Aggression
-instead of taking the passive check/calling line we take the initiative ourself

2) Punishing the bottom of their range
-effective vs very aggressive cbetting ranges (make them fold airs, weak pairs and weak draws)

3) Hand Reading
-some villains may bet all air on the flop thus when they call our raise they have a narrow range

4) Fold Equity
-take the pot down on the flop rather than calling down till the river

Hands to Raise vs C-bet (Polarized Range)
1) Value Range
-strongest value hands + flopped monsters + strong draws
2) Bluff Range
-hands that have enough equity to call but not strong enough to call many turn bets
BOTTOM OF CALLING RANGE
-e.g. gutshots, backdoor straight or flush draws

Rule 10
When facing a flop c-bet:
-Raise our best value hands (top pair top kicker and better)
-Raise our strongest draws with more than 9 outs to improve (FD with 2 overcards, SD with 2 overcards)
-Semi bluff with SOME of our lowest equity draws (gutshots, backdoor draws)
IP: raise between 2.2-2.7x bet size
OOP: raise between 2.5x-3x bet size
(Deeper stacked we want to size it up to get it all-in by the river)
(Shorter stacked we can widen our value raising range to get it in vs aggro players)

On wet boards, we may not choose to include top pair hands in our value raising range, as it is very vulnerable and villain could have many better hands

On dry boards, we can widen our value raising range to top pair with 2nd best kicker as it is often dominating opponent's range

For low card boards, we also want to raise our vulnerable top pairs more aggressively even without good kicker (PROTECTION RAISE)- especially with short stacks

When OOP, we want to raise more when shorter stacked and raise less when deeper stacked
When IP, we want to raise more when deeper stacked and raise less when shorter stacked (LOGIC)

Playing Flop Multiway
-generally play tighter as we have less equity multiway

Rule 11.1
Betting multiway
-only bet our strongest value hands, strongest draws and some hands that needs protection

Facing a bet multiway (others have folded)
-generally continue with middle pairs or better + most strong draws

Facing a bet with players left to act behind
-continue with strong top pairs, strong draws and better

Facing a lot of action (bet/call or bet/raise) in front of us
-only continue with hands we do not mind getting it in with (strongest draws + strongest value hands)

Facing a single bet with opponents left to act behind, we may choose to raise our strong hands + strong draws in order to fold out the remaining players + make our range look very strong
-here we want to check most turns when called

Bet Sizing Multiway
-generally bet 30% of pot if we opt to bet
however, for some hands that need protection we can bet bigger (66% pot)