What is Q&A-Workshop? It's basically a Q&A with me, Zapatos80 on Pokerstars. The difference between this and a normal strategy post is I want to take a more personalized approach to poker study. Micro players already have access to many amazing sources of information like the Concept of the Week series (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78/micro-stakes-full-ring/concept-week-schedule-table-contents-397190/) but the sheer amount of strategy and theory can be daunting to take in and at first and it can be very challenging to figure out exactly what applies to your game, so this is where I come in.
You might be wondering "who is this guy?" In short, a Supernova budding Small Stakes player that enjoys writing about poker and interacting with the community. If you want to learn more about me and my progress, you can read more right here on my blog. Also, if you like this blog, don't be shy, register and follow me as a member! If you want to participate in Mini-Coaching, send me a PM with the following :
- Your poker progress (when did you start playing, what stakes you're playing, how you are doing)
- Your poker challenges (situations you find difficult, both on and off the tables, spots you're unsure of, various types of villains that give you trouble)
- Your poker goals (what do you want out of poker, what's the next step you're working on as a poker player). If you have 1-2 hands that gave you trouble, you can include them as well.
The goal here is simply to expand/simplify CoTWs and basically make them more accessible & personalized. I also think the Q&A format will make it easier to adress the real issues and challenges that micro players face, as we tend to take many strategies for granted as we move up. Finally, i'd like to divide my answers into two sections ; the quick fix & the more detailed explanation. If you just want to plug that leak or get a fast, pragmatic explanation to your problem, use the quick fix. If you want to take the difficulty up a notch, go with the detailed explanation. Without further ado, here's the first Mini-Coaching.
Q&A-Workshop #1
Hey, I'm not entirely sure what it is that you're wanting sent, but as a basic overview, I have been playing online for about 8 months now and feel a lot better than when I started, but I seem to have a horrible time in stepping up levels when I build up enough of a roll. The first time I stepped up to 5NL I completely crashed most of my roll but when I came back to it it seemed fairly comfortable. Recently stepped up to 10NL and lost about $150 there, I just seemed to be getting 3-bet every time I opened and getting bullied about, and any time I stood up to it I seemed to be against Aces or Kings, and I don't have a big enough sample size to know whether they were standard spots or whether it was big mistakes on my part. Any help would be great, because I find it so demoralizing having such problems stepping up in levels.
I'm really glad that 3-betting issues is the first question to be answered because I think that learning the 3-bet game can be one of the most challenging step when moving up and it can quickly get very expensive if you don't adjust properly. First of all, I think a lot of the difficulties that come up when learning to deal with 3-bets are psychological in nature. When transitioning from a game where you never get 3bet to one where it comes up more often, it's easy to think you're getting bullied and that you have to take the fight up a notch because you don't want to be outplayed.
Quick fix :
IMO, this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when you first start dealing with this. There's two reasons for this : 1) You're probably not getting 3-bet light as much as you think. 2) Even if you're getting 3-bet light a fair amount, it's never that wrong to fold. What does this means in exact terms? 4b/call AA/KK in EP/MP and AK/QQ+ in HJ/CO/BTN/SB/BB and fold everything else to a reraise! This really bears repeating for players who are just starting to deal with 3bets because if I had only one piece of advice to give to micro players, it would be this : you really can't go far wrong if you fold all but premiums to 3bets!
Taking it up a notch :
Blanket statements will keep you out of trouble, but I want to delve into the subject a little deeper and recommend some adjustments you can make if you want to take your game to the next level. First of all, you need to be absolutely sure that you're indeed getting 3-bet light quite a bit before adjusting. In case of doubt, fold. In exact terms, this means the reraiser needs to have at least 7-8% 3bet in a particular position for it to be worth adjusting, a stat you can get from your HUD (3-bet% vs steals in SB/BB, or simply 3bet by position CO/BTN, etc).
Looking at it another way, if your opponent is reraising 5% of the time then yes, he's reraising more than pure premiums, but his range is still much too strong for you to do much about it. 5% is roughly 99+/AQ+ and there's really not much you can do against that range. 4-betting light is out of the question since even if he only continues with AK/QQ+, roughly 50% of the time he'll fold and 50% of the time he'll shove, meaning if you raise 3bb, he reraises 9bb and you 4bet light to 23bb, 50% of the time you lose 23bb and 50% of the time you win 9bb, a clearly losing proposition. Calling is also bad because his range is so strong you simply won't have room to maneuver postflop. Remember that calling 3-bets planning to only continue with a made hand is a HUGE leak. The price you're paying pre-flop is simply too high to rely on implied odds, even against such a strong range. As an aside, this means that calling with a low/med PP to setmine is almost certainly -EV unless you have a very good reason to believe otherwise.
Let's say your opponent reraises 10% out of the blind but only continues with AK/QQ+ if you 4bet. Now you have some profitable 4bet bluffing opportunities. AK/QQ+ is 2.6% of hands and he's reraising 10%. This means roughly 75% of the time, he will fold to your 4b. Taking the example above, this means you'll win 9bb 75% of the time and lose 23bb 25% of the time for an average profit of 4bb per 4bet. Keep in mind that the alternative is losing 3bb, so that's a 7bb swing in your favor, quite a tidy profit. Obviously, do not overuse this play and tend to 4b light with your trash AX hands, since if you hold an ace, he's slightly less likely to have AK or AA, which slightly reduces the chance he will shove.
Calling is also an option but ONLY if you have a plan to steal it away postflop. Again, calling a 3bet and playing fit/fold postflop is a HUGE leak. Calling and taking it away postflop is especially attractive against people who reraise very wide and cbet almost every board. What they're doing is basically creating a very big pot with a very weak range, leaving them especially vulnerable to a steal. Look for holes in your opponent's game. Does he fold often to raises? Does he cbet flop and gives up on the turn if he doesn't hit? Does he cbet the flop at all? There is simply no one way to go about this, and you need to have a good grip on your opponent to call a 3bet profitably. The simple rule of thumb to remember is this ; fold preflop if you don't know what to do postflop, but if you do call make SURE you have a solid plan to take it away postflop.
Obviously, we could go quite in-depth in this subject, but I think this should get you started well in dealing with 3bets. If you have any questions/comments, please post them here, and good luck at the tables!
Cliff's notes :
Quick fix : Fold all but premiums to 3bets (AA/KK only in EP/MP, AK/QQ+ in LP/LPvsBlinds)
Taking it up a notch : If the reraiser is really getting out of line, add some 4b light. Call the 3bet only if you have a solid plan to steal it away postflop, no fit or fold!
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