New Video series on how to really make money at poker 3 Dec 2019, 10:21 pm

Part 1 of 3 is up on a new poker series. It will cover all of the fundamentals a person needs in order to become a long term winning player. The focus is mainly on psychology, how to study, how to maintain your A game, and how to build a winning purpose for your game. This is an excellent video that players at all levels should absorb and learn from.

How to Really Make Money at Poker (Part 1 of 3).

Are using HUD’s an unfair advantage in online poker? 22 Feb 2019, 9:58 pm

This question has always been really funny to me. After having played poker for 14+ years, and discussed this topic with live and online players over the years, I’ve made some conclusions about the people who are in the HUD’s should be illegal camp.

1.  They tend to be pretty set in their ways about thinking… about A LOT of things. Not just HUDs.
2.  They seem like they don’t want to bother to try and figure out what HUD stats really are.
3.  Most of them, not all, tend to be less mathematically inclined.

So are HUDs an unfair advantage?

My answer to “Are HUD’s an unfair advantage?” is this: YES, they are an unfair advantage. I recently expanded on this in an online interview, which I said:

Poker HUD’s gives an unfair advantage the same way that if you were playing tennis against someone, and your opponent spent the time to get their racket strung properly before the match, had the best tennis shoes on, had their rackets gripped properly and spent time analyzing and studying their game on film.

 

The advantage in any game and in life in general, is going to go to the person who does their due diligence, puts in the work, and gives their best effort. It’s always been a silly argument to me that people want to say HUDs are somehow unfair.

 

It’s a tool, and an amazing tool that every poker player should have, and I’m not saying that just because I sell one. J It’s honestly the way I improved the most as a poker player, which was tracking my results, running filters, reviewing my hands in re-players, exporting and posting them on poker forums.

But it’s a tool. It’s not going to magically make you a better poker player, just like having the best tennis racket isn’t going to make you the best tennis player.

 

Online poker is NOT live poker. Anyone who is trying to make online poker live poker is just selling you a gimmick. The sites that want to ban HUDs to have the appearance of being fairer are doing themselves a disservice because it will just push the software into the black market where good mid and high stakes players will pay a lot of money to have custom developed personal HUDs that no one else will have access to.

 

You can’t stop HUDs on any site. It’s not possible. Sites like Pokerstars did the intelligent thing, which was regulating the use of HUDs. That’s the more reasonable position, but people generally tend to sway from one extreme to another extreme in a lot of areas of life.

 

Common sense regulation is the better way to approach things so that all groups’ needs are met and satisfied and you eliminate creating unfair advantages for small groups that can afford to pay extreme amounts of money.

Final words

Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this topic. I sell a HUD, so I have an invested stake in how they are perceived. But I genuinely think that poker HUDs and databases are the absolute BEST tool you can invest in as a poker player, of any level.

They are amazing tools that personally helped me to become a good player I am today. If you don’t have one… get one. Most importantly, use it. Review all of your sessions. Post hands, and run equity calculations. You’ll be glad you did, as you’ll always have something to reference and learn from… which is your own play. Of course, I recommend DriveHUD. But there are many good HUDs out there today.

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DriveHUD – DriveHUD is a poker database and HUD for your online poker play. It overlays a HUD on your online poker tables, and display vital stats about each opponent on your table. It tracks and records all of the hands that you play online. This allows you to review, re-play, filter, graph and analyze all of the hands you’ve played. So you can improve your poker game.

GTO poker – How profitable is it at micro and small stakes? 15 Jan 2019, 11:35 pm

The last couple of years in poker, GTO (Game theory optimal) play has been all the rage. Moving away from intuition based reads, and using a more mathematical model of playing poker has been part of the constant evolution of poker. Adapting more logic based models for what kinds of lines you should take in poker is a great thing. BUT, how profitable is it really when applied to micro and small stakes poker?

First of all, if you’re unsure what playing a GTO based style of poker means, it essentially just means that you’re balancing the actions you take with an entire range of hands you’d play in any given poker spot, and making it so that no matter what decision your opponent makes, he can’t win. That sounds great, but the other part of that is that you don’t win either. If two people are playing GTO poker, the EV (expected value) of any given hand long term would be 0 (yes, that’s zero). So why in the world would you try and implement a strategy with a zero EV? 

By understanding what the most optimal lines are with a range of hands in a poker situation, then you can recognize when your opponent ISN’T taking those optimal lines. Once you recognize that, you can then EXPLOIT that flaw in their game. At that point, you’d switch from playing a GTO strategy, to an exploitative strategy. In an exploitative strategy, you are maximizing the most you can make in a given situation, without concern for how balanced your range of hands plays in a given spot because your opponent doesn’t understand what the proper balance is.

A simple example of someone who has an exploitable area of their game is such. Example 1: When Player Z has a flush draw, they always check and call when out of position, and they never bluff when they miss. If you knew this information for example, you could always make small bets on the river, even with your unmade hands, to get them to fold for cheap, or you could check through with your high Ace hands expecting to win at showdown a large percentage of the time. A person with a more balanced range of hands would look at what the optimal game theory line is with various types of flush draws, and would check/call X% of the time, Check/raise Y% of the time, and Bet Z% of the time.

So, how profitable is it to implement a GTO strategy at micro and small stakes? The short answer is, it’s isn’t. In theory, your opponents should be playing micro and small stakes, because they don’t understand how to balance their hand range, and they have many very exploitable holes in their game. Many. Like, a lot… a ton. There will of course be some fellow students of the game at higher micro stakes and in some small stakes games that will have some understanding of this, and you’ll want to be aware. In general though, it’s best to look for the most exploitable holes in your opponents game, and make the highest EV bets, raises, and calls.

The benefit from studying and understanding a GTO strategy, is being able to recognize when your opponent is deviating from ideal play. One of the most immediate effects of understanding GTO strategy, is you’ll become a better bluffer. You’ll understand your opponents range, and your perceived range much better, and you’ll be able to implement bluffs that have a higher degree of success. What you don’t want to do is get into fancy play GTO syndrome (FPGS) that I see very often on popular poker forums. I’ll illustrate a recent example to highlight what I mean.

Here’s a hand from a micro stakes player on the popular 2+2 poker forum. Here our Hero in the hand wants to know what his entire check raise bluff range should be here. That’s not a bad question to ask, but the problem is hero has FPGS. For one, you don’t need many bluffs in your range in this spot. So why would you want to worry about implementing that against someone you don’t have any significant history with yet, AND try and get them to fold a better Ax hand? The answer is, you shouldn’t. There’s really no point. If you played this hand, and then check/called the turn (the higher EV line), you could ask later, what would be a good range of hands to have in my check-raise range on the turn here? That’s a good question to ask in theory away from the table. In game though, assuming you like money, and want to win money at poker, you should just be looking to take the highest exploitative EV line.

Additionally, even at higher small stakes, and mid stakes and above, you should be looking to implement an exploitative strategy and take the highest EV lines. Once you build a good amount of history with your opponent, you should start balancing your ranges and bet sizing more. I’ll give you another simple example in a mid stakes game.

Example 2: You have played less than one rotation at a 6-max cash game, and the MP open raises to 2.5BBs. It folds to you on the button with QQ and you 3-bet to 8 BBs. Everyone folds back to the MP player who calls. The flop comes (17.5 BBs): 6c Qc Ah. MP checks to you. With 17.5 BBs in the pot, this isn’t the time to try and balance your 3-bet c-bet sizing by betting 1/3rd of the pot. This player knows nothing about you, and you just flopped the second nuts. It’s time to go to value town with as big of a sizing as you think is reasonable. C-betting to 11-15 bbs is the higher EV line versus c-betting 6-8BBs. Go get your money, and worry about how your range perception is seen by your opponent when/if you start building history.

I can’t tell you how many hands I read in forums where the above example happen. I think a lot of people get into static ways of thinking and approaching something, and then have difficulty adjusting to the actual situation that is in front of them. That’s at least my human observation, because I’ve seen it countless times at the poker tables over the years. Another thing to consider when you’re thinking about balancing your ranges is that it takes a LOT of hands with someone, to even start to try and understand what they might be doing that is exploitable (if they are a decent player). So if you’re worried about that regular in your online game knowing that you aren’t checking raising enough turns, or you’re over folding top pair to a turn raise… don’t. I’ve coached and talked with enough players to know that they don’t have this info unless they have a really long standing history with someone, or the player is just really bad.

The bottom line here is, study GTO as it will make you a better and more thoughtful player, but don’t implement it when it doesn’t make sense (or dollars). Just take the highest EV line, and do the analysis and theory after you’re in a spot that you’re curious about. Good luck at the tables!

Hero Open Button vs. Big Blind Call 11 Dec 2018, 11:55 am

Open Button vs. Big Blind Defense [Video below]

One of the most common spots in poker is when the action folds to the button, the button open raises for (2-3x bb), the SB folds and the BB defends with a call. Most of the time after you see the flop, the BB will check, the BTN will continuation bet, and the BB will fold. What are you doing and how often are you winning in these spots when you whiffed (missed) the flop, and your continuation bet is called? This is one of those common spots that poker players often misplay. They either over play their bluffs in this spot, don’t bluff enough, or miss making max value. So let’s avoid all of that and dive into the nuts and bolts of how to play these situations as ideally as possible, shall we?

There’s a simple formula I’d recommend sticking to when you’re in a BTN vs. BB defense spot, and you’ve whiffed the pot. First point to consider is, should you continuation bet?

YES IF…

• You likely don’t have much showdown value, and the board didn’t likely hit your opponents defense range much either. Example Flops: Qx 3x 5x, Tx, 2x, 6x, 5x5xJx
• It might have hit some of your opponents range, but you have strong backdoor outs and over cards. Example – You hold KhTh and the flop is: 8h 9s 5c
• Your opponent over folds to continuation bets and/or over defends and gives up (has low W$WSF, won dollars when seen flop).

NO IF…

• You have a hand with some showdown value and the board doesn’t really help either of you. Example – You hold Ac9s and the flop is: 4c4hTd
• The board hit your opponents defense range, and didn’t hit you at all. Example – You hold QcTs and the flop is: 6d7d9s
• Your opponent check-raises a lot, and you don’t have a hand with showdown value or potential turn equity. Example – You hold KcJs and the flop is 6c6sQd

What’s a common Big blind defense range versus a 2.5x BB open raise from the button?

There’s no definitive answer here because you’re playing opponents who likely won’t be playing ideal GTO poker. Each type of opponent you’re facing will vary their range based on how many hands they are playing from any position. A general answer here though against most TAG (tight aggressive opponents) that are opening about 48% of their open button hands would be a range similar to this below:

[ 22+(100), A2s+(100), A2o+(100), K2s+(100), K3o+(100), Q3s+(100), Q4o+(100), J3s+(100), J6o+(100), T4s+(100), T7o+(100), 94s+(100), 97o+(100), 84s+(100), 87o(100), 74s+(100), 76o(100), 64s+(100), 54s(100) ]

Now that might be appear quite wide, and some of those hands you’ll be 3-betting as a defense. Some of the bottom of this range you can drop (cut out). But in general, getting 2.6:1 on a call, and accounting for a positional disadvantage average of -10% equity realization on your hand, you only need 38% equity (28% + 10% equity disadvantage) to call in that spot. So the above range is actually a bit conservative. Regardless of how you want to generate your ranges, you have a general idea of what people are defending with.

 

Let’s take a look at the basic formula once you do decide to bluff with your whiffed hand on the flop. There’s just a few main points to consider when you’re deciding how to steal this pot. The formula is as follows:

Simple formula

–TAG’s or bad players that can fold hands (not sticky players)

–Keep the pot small

–Make sure your hand tells the correct story

–Slight over bet on the river (unless the board was super draw heavy and most of your opponents range was draw, then just 1/2 pot bet or less – slightly over 1/3rd is ideal).

To gain more insight into the overall dynamics of this spot, take a look at the below video example of a hand where Hero open raises on the button with Kh9c in a 6-max cash game.

I hope the above video makes it more clear. The bottom line, just make sure you’re thinking through spots like this and not just giving up on your hand. Making these small plays makes a significant difference in your bankroll at the end of the month and year. As always, good luck at the tables!

What does winning poker look like long term? 2 Dec 2018, 11:52 am

Anyone can win at poker on any given day. That’s the short term luck factor that keeps the fish coming back for more, and the grinders playing with 30+ buy-in’s in their poker rolls. Luck in poker isn’t just about a bad hand beating a good hand. It’s also many subtle things we, as poker players, don’t have control over. It’s the times when you flop monster hands, but nobody has any decent second best hands. It’s the time the player on the button 3-bet with trash, and you folded pocket 3’s in the small blind that would have flopped trips. It’s a long list of little things that can only even out over hundreds of thousands of hands.

Given this, how do you know if you’re really a winning player? 

The short answer is, unless you’ve played 500k+ hands of winning poker, you really don’t know if you’re a winning poker player. And if you have won or kept your head above water, you don’t really know how big of a winner you are. Playing winning poker comes down to one “simple” thing really. As cliche as it sounds, it’s all about processing and considering the most information possible, and then taking then making the best possible decision based on that information, as consistently as possible over thousands and thousands of hands of poker.

This is what separates the professionals from the amateur players

1. How much information you’re processing in order to make your decision. If you listen to an amateur poker player, or even someone with some beginning winning experience in poker, the depth and the amount of information they are considering will vary wildly from talking about the same hand with a professional poker player.
2. The ability to NOT be results oriented with your decision making process. Meaning, as long as you considered the most possible information, and made the best decision based on that information, the result of the hand is irrelevant. The professional poker player knows that over time, his ability to make these better decisions on a consistent basis will win him money in the long term.
3. The ability to stay calm and focused, and know that win or lose, regardless of the decisions made by your opponent, you made the correct decision. There’s no need to get upset, berate someone for making a bad play, or tilt. The quality of your decisions will pay off over time. That doesn’t mean that professional poker players never tilt, especially when in the middle of a long run of bad results. But the ability to limit these emotional swings is important to long term results.

This is what PokerZion is all about

That’s the goal of this website. To provide detailed information about how to think about situations in poker, in order to yield the highest long term EV (expected value). Knowledge is poker, and the more you know, the better decisions you’re going to make, and the more you’re going to win. That’s just the bottom line. That’s why we only have content from long term winning poker players (5+ years, and in many cases 10+ years). Quality, and depth of thought is important in explaining sometimes difficult concepts, but most important, you want quality explanations from players with proven track records.

So invest the $7 into your poker development. You won’t find a better deal out there for the information you’ll get. I promise you that.

-John Anhalt

Founder PokerZion.com