This article delves into the essential concepts for navigating paired boards effectively.

We’ll explore how to assess relative hand strength and recognize situations ripe for controlled aggression or cautious restraint. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a dedicated learner, understanding paired board strategies is critical to advancing your game.

Let’s dive in!

Tip #1: Pay Attention to Who Has More Trips

When assessing your c-betting strategy on a paired flop, the most important question is: “Who has more hands that contain the paired card?”

This is the fundamental driving factor of the optimal strategy.

There may be situations where the ranges are in such a way that the in position has the upper hand. There are situations where it’s kind of equal. And finally, there are situations where the out of position player (preflop caller) has the advantage.

All three of these scenarios warrant a different approach and I will give you one example for each:

Example #1 – When the Aggressor Has Way More Trips

You open-raise from the Button and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes Kd Kh 6s rainbow. Here’s what the c-betting strategy looks like using Lucid Poker:

Solver’s Button c-bet strategy on KK6-rainbow

We can see here that the optimal strategy is to c-bet with the entire range (range bet) of hands using a small size (1.5bb into 5bb).

Why is that?

Well, there are a few reasons. But the most important one is that Button’s range is made out of 12.6% trips or better, while Big Blind’s range only contains 9.9% of trips or better.

There are a few other reasons, such as having the overall range advantage and being in position. Button’s range advantage is due to the overpair of Pocket Aces, the unique underpairs (Pocket Queens through Pocket Tens), and stronger non-made hands.

Because there are so many of these strong hands that Big Blind cannot have due to just calling preflop, your strategy should be extremely aggressive as the Button.

Example #2 – When Both Players Have a Similar Number of Trips

You raise from the Button and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes 9d 9c 6s.

Here’s what the optimal c-betting strategy looks like:

Solver’s Button c-bet strategy on 996-rainbow

Here we see a massive shift from the previous board. This time, the optimal strategy is to check back 40% of the time. 

One of the main reasons for this shift is the lack of nut advantage. In this case, the Big Blind has around 11% trips+, while Button has 10% trips+. This means the Button is at a slight nut disadvantage.

The reason why Button is still c-betting 60% of the time is because it still has the positional advantage and range advantage (provided by the overpairs and stronger non-made hands).

Example #3 – When the Preflop Caller Has Way More Trips

You open-raise from the Lojack (UTG in a 6-handed game) and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes 7c 7d 4c.

Something interesting happens on this flop: Big Blind should take the lead by donk betting with some hands. Here’s what that range looks like:

Solver’s donk bet strategy on 774 two-tone

Here, we can see that the Solver elects to donk bet using a small size with 33% of the range. I will not dive into the specifics of this strategy, but rather focus on the levers which created it. Here is a breakdown of the Big Blind’s range by hand class:

Big Blind’s range by hand class on 774 two-tone

If you look at this picture and add up the trips+ hand classes, you will end up with 7.1% of the range being trips+.

Now take a look at the percentage of hands in each hand class for the Lojack’s range on 7c 7d 4c:

Lojack’s range by hand class on 774 two-tone

When we sum up the trips or better hand classes in Lojack’s range, it’s only 2.5%. That is a colossal difference. This is the type of asymmetry that is required for a donk betting strategy to become not only viable, but optimal.

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Tip #2: Use Small Bet Sizes

Paired boards all have one thing in common: It’s very hard for both players to have a decent hand.

This means that most of the opponent’s range is made out of hands that miss (to varying degrees). When holding a hand that totally missed, your opponent will fold whether you bet big or small.

For this reason, you should look to bet very small (between 25-40% pot) to punish this large chunk of very weak, indifferent hands.

Tip #3: Simplify Your Strategy

Simplifying your strategy should be one of your highest priorities. Nobody will ever be able to perfectly replicate a solver output.

Now, when I say simplify, I don’t necessarily mean range betting or range checking.

Take a look at the example where the Lojack raises, gets called by the Big Blind, and the Big Blind checks on 7c 7d 4c:

Range betting or range checking would be a big deviation that can be exploited pretty hard. That being said, I would accept a range bet strategy here as a decent simplification since it’s very hard for your opponents to pick up on it.

But, if you feel like you’re deviating too much from optimal and that makes you a bit insecure, you can do smaller simplifications. Let’s come up with one such simplification now.

All hands are indifferent between c-betting and checking at equilibrium in this spot (except Pocket Sevens). This means that we can look at the overall frequency of each hand and round it up to the nearest 25% or 50% increment.

This would lead to a strategy that is extremely close in betting/checking frequency to the GTO solution. You don’t need to remember 40/60, 70/30, 20/80 splits. 

But I’d actually take it one step further: you can just split everything 50/50. This way you have massively simplified your strategy without losing any accuracy. And that’s way easier to remember and execute at the table.

Final Thoughts

You’ve taken a step toward mastering paired flops. The next action step for you is to get very good at knowing both your range and your opponent’s range so that you’re able to compile the optimal strategy on the fly.

There’s really no better way to do that then by studying with the Lucid Poker Trainer. This tool has been improving every day, with new situations and features that make studying poker easy. It’s also the best value trainer on the market (you get every game type and stack depth for just $49).

That’s all for this article! I hope you learned something new from it and that you enjoyed it as much I enjoyed writing it! If you have any questions or feedback please let me know in the comment section down below!

Want to learn more tips courtesy of my time inside the Lucid Poker Trainer? Check out What To Do When You Turn A Flush (3 Tips From Lucid Poker).

Till’ next time, good luck, grinders!

There a countless ways to use the Lucid Poker Trainer to improve your poker game. And now you can improve your skills on the go with the new mobile app! Become a Lucid Poker member today to upgrade your game.

The post 3 Tips For Playing Paired Boards (via Lucid Poker) appeared first on Upswing Poker.

He showed up at the Aria and hopped in a cash game at 8PM. It ended up being a roller coaster 24 hours for the Scot.

You can watch what happened just below or keep scrolling for a recap of 7 notable hands that tell the story of his session:

Early Session

While none of the early hands were particularly noteworthy, Gary’s session got off to a rough start. He lost about $500 with Pocket Tens vs Pocket Aces on a low board. He then lost another $1,000 or so after whiffing twice with Ace-King around 9PM.

But the downswing wasn’t permanent as you’ll see with these next 7 hands!

Hand #1: Flopped Set With Pocket Threes

Finally, some luck goes Gary’s way with this hand at 9:15PM.

$2/$5. $1,500 stacks.

Preflop: Gary is dealt 3d 3s Under the Gun
Gary raises $15. Middle Position calls. Button calls.

Flop ($52): 9c 4c 3c
Gary bets $25. Middle Position calls. Button folds.

Turn ($102): 4d
Gary bets $80. Middle Position calls.

River ($262): Ah
Gary bets $340. Middle Position calls.

Results: Gary wins the $942 pot with a full house. Middle Position does not show.

This was the first big win of his session and brought the total losses to about $1,200.

Hand #2: Two Pair On Flush Board

After losing a few small pots, Gary played one of his most interesting hands of the session at around 1AM.

$2/$5. $1,500 stacks.

Preflop: Gary is dealt Ad 6d in the Cutoff
Gary raises $15. Small Blind 3-bets $65. Big Blind calls. Gary calls.

Flop ($195): Ts 6s 5c
Small Blind bets $105. Big Blind folds. Gary calls.

Turn ($405): As
Small Blind checks. Gary bets $280. Small Blind calls.

River ($965): 5d
Small Blind checks. Gary bets all-in $1,150. Small Blind folds.

Results: Gary wins $2,115 pot.

While he didn’t get to stack his opponent, this was still a nice win that cut his deficit to around $1,740.

Hand #3: Running Pocket Kings Into Aces

Gary won a few small pots before playing this sick one at 5:45AM!

$2/$5. $1,500 stacks.

Preflop: Gary is dealt Kh Ks in the Big Blind.
Cutoff raises $15. Gary 3-bets $70. Cutoff 4-bets $180. Gary calls.

Flop ($362): Qh Js 7d
Gary checks. Cutoff bets $85. Gary calls.

Turn ($532): 9h
Gary checks. Cutoff checks.

River ($532): Qc
Gary checks. Cutoff bets $180. Gary calls.

Results: Cutoff wins $892 pot with Pocket Aces.

Even though he lost this pot, he managed to lose the minimum when running Pocket Kings into Pocket Aces! His session total was back to -$1,760 after this.

Hand #4: Flush Draw In 6-Way Pot

Gary was moved to another table and we’re now officially in the next morning at 9AM.

$2/$5. $1,500 stacks.

Preflop: Gary is dealt 6h 5h on the Button.
3 limps. Gary raises $30. Small Blind calls. Big Blind calls. All 3 limpers call.

Flop ($180): Kh Ts 7h
5 players check. Gary checks.

Turn ($180): 8d
4 checks. Hijack bets $70. Gary calls. Small Blind calls. Everyone else folds.

River ($405): Qh
Small Blind checks. Hijack bets $125. Gary raises $420. Small Blind folds. Hijack calls.

Results: Gary wins $1,245 pot with flush. Hijack does not show.

This crucial pot got Gary back to around -$1,400.

Hand #5: Triple Barrel With Pocket Aces

Gary gets dealt the perfect hand to get back to even at 11:45AM: Pocket Aces!

$2/$5. $2,000 stacks

Preflop: Gary is dealt As Ad in the Big Blind.
3 limps. Button raises $35. Gary 3-bets $135. Limpers fold. Button calls.

Flop ($287): Ts 3h 2d
Gary bets $135. Button calls.

Turn ($557): Ac
Gary bets $135. Button calls.

River ($847): 7c
Gary bets $650. Button folds.

Results: Gary wins $1497 pot.

After this nice win, Gary’s deficit was down to just $935!

Hand #6: Flopping Two Pair In Multiway Pot

Gary managed to win a few small pots and finally got unstuck for the session, before losing another $1,0000 or so. Then this hand happened at 2:10PM!

$5/$10. $1,500 stacks.

Preflop: Gary is dealt Ah 6h in the Cutoff
Gary raises $30. Small Blind calls. Big Blind calls.

Flop ($90): As Jc 6s
Small Blind checks. Big Blind checks. Gary bets $50. Small Blind calls. Big Blind calls.

Turn ($240): 3c
Small Blind checks. Big Blind checks. Gary bets $320. Small Blind folds. Big Blind folds.

River ($880): 4h
Gary bets $1,000. Big Blind calls.

Results: Gary wins 2,880 pot with two pair. Big Blind shows Ac 8c.

After this huge win, Gary was officially $350 in profit and never looked back!

Hand #7: All-In Preflop With Ace-Queen

Gary moved to a $5/$10 and won a few medium-sized pots before playing the biggest pot of the session at 6PM. The opponent in question was an action player who was starting to play very loose after losing a few hands.

$5/$10/$20/$40. $2,000 stacks.

Preflop: Gary is dealt Ah Qs in the Straddle.
UTG limps. Cutoff raises $200. Gary 3-bets $800. Cutoff 4-bets all-in $2,000. Gary calls. They run it twice:

Board #1: Ac 7d 2c As Th
Board #2: Qd 8h 5d 3c 5c

Results: Gary wins both boards for $4,100 pot. Cutoff shows Jc 9c.

After this huge win, Gary played a few small pots but nothing close to this size.

Wrapping Up

There ya have it! After 24 hours of playing, you can see the 7 most interesting hands that Gary Blackwood played during this comeback session.

When the dust settled, he walked away with a profit of $5,292. Not bad for a day’s work!

Since joining the Upswing Lab team, Gary Blackwood has quickly become one of the most popular coaches among Lab members.

He has dozens of hours of training content in the Lab and has created in-depth lessons for critical topics like:

• Costly Cash Game Mistakes to Avoid
• Advanced Live Poker Strategy
• Playing Overpairs Like a Pro
• Block Betting

…and many more.

Join the Upswing Lab now to get access to all of Gary Blackwood’s lessons and 100+ lessons from other poker pros.

The post Poker Pro Plays 24 Hour Poker Session (Here’s What Happened) appeared first on Upswing Poker.

Do you ever watch poker training content and find yourself saying things like:

• This sounds great in theory, but players in my games don’t play like this
• I don’t have the time or desire to stare at solvers and charts all-day

If so, this article (based on the words of Upswing coach Uri Peleg) is for you.

Note: Want to master winning poker strategies without confusing solvers or complex math? Check out Uri Peleg’s new course “The Poker Blueprint” here. Get access now.

The Current State of Poker Training

When someone asks me for a recommendation, I sometimes go through the poker training offers on the top poker sites. And very quickly, my eyes go dark and my mind strays. It feels like the training industry today is very math and solver-focused. But poker is a multi-dimensional game.

By focusing on the theory dimension, you often zoom in. What should my bluffs be on this river? Let’s randomize this combination. Let’s look at my blockers.

By doing this, you might miss the big picture. Like this guy is eating an Oreo cookie or this is his lunch money and there is no way he’s hero-calling.

Real poker constantly throws you into situations that don’t match theory. By focusing on theory, you end up not having the correct tools to deal with multiway pots, weird sizes, unique board textures, etc.

If someone does something wrong, you don’t automatically profit. You need to have a deeper understanding of what’s going on.

By making the learning experience longer and heavier, it becomes inaccessible for people who have time and energy limitations. The more you make them study before playing, the more they end up with an energy problem, a motivation problem, and an integration problem.

The Issue With Relying Too Much On Solvers

Computer programs are very black and white. This move is correct; this move is wrong.

In reality, poker is much more fluid. And when you start looking at these charts, some hands are making you 0.01bb or they’re losing you 0.03bb. And at the level of accuracy in which we’re able to play in the real world, these are identical to 0.

So a lot of the focus of poker training is to get you to nail the 0.01% differences rather than aim at much lower-hanging fruits. For example, you’ll watch a video that explains how pot odds work and the way implied odds work. Or maybe it’s a toy game and some math examples.

A lot of poker training focuses on all that rather than just saying things like “generally you can call with open-ended straight draws and flush draws twice while gutshot straight draws mostly fold to the second bet.” This is the way that most of the top players in the world conceptualize it.

And, you know, some guys just do the math in their head as they’re playing. But I can say from experience of working with top players that a lot of them don’t even know what math to do.

What Should You Actually Ask Yourself?

The way computers work and the way poker training approaches things is from a very theoretical standpoint. It sort of assumes everyone is playing perfectly.

Whereas in practice, the question you often want to ask yourself is — considering that nobody is playing perfect — what should I do and what are the reasonable options for me at this point?

A Problem That Needs a Solution

All of these issues with the poker training industry made me come up with a question:

What would be the correct way to offer training where I gave you as little as possible, as condensed as possible, and as overarching as possible in terms of principles? Where I could send you with that to battle and you’d be okay.

What’s the minimum that gives a maximum?

Whenever you look at what a computer is doing, at the basic level, you have each hand in your range and what that hand wants to do. And you add all of those together and you would say: well, if every hand did exactly what it wanted to do, I’d be completely face up.

So I need to throw some deception in there. How do I throw the deception in there? And then the answer is, well, it depends.

What’s your range and what’s the other person’s range? The computer prioritizes things so that they’re organized in the most optimal manner possible against every counter strategy possible.

But really what it’s doing is it’s taking this principle of what every hand is trying to do and it’s putting it together with a big principle of, what does my range look like and what does your range look like? And say I have only one combo that wants to get stacks in, and every other combo wants to play defensively. Maybe that combo should play defensively too.

So you’re going to understand what’s going on beneath the hood of the computer. No charts and no math. Just logic and intuition. And by doing this, you gain several things.

Number one is you can compete against a guy who studied computers and math for a lot of hours. And you can look him in the eye when you’re playing and you kind of know what’s going on. He can’t run circles around you.

Another thing is this makes poker, poker again. By freeing ourselves from all the details and focusing on the principles and getting away from the 0.01%, you leave yourself the room to use your imagination when you play. So suddenly in every situation, it’s not like all the options are on the table. But you have a lot of options on the table and you get to enjoy yourself a lot more when you play. This also just leads to better play in general.

What is Uri’s Poker Blueprint?

The Poker Blueprint was born to address these issues I’ve discussed. I’ve coached many successful players among the best in the world. So all of the hours and time I spent studying and understanding solvers, I’m going to present it to you guys without the solvers and the math.

No charts, no math, no 0.01%. Logic and intuition to focus on what matters. And what this does is it makes poker, poker again. So it leaves you the room to use your imagination and intuition when you play.

It’s a very simple and concise framework where all the moves you’re making are going to be more or less correct. And then you have the freedom to decide which move to use in this situation. The point of this is to get you guys to understand as quickly and efficiently as possible to understand the why.

The Poker Blueprint comes out this upcoming Monday (September 30th). Pre-register here to get a free bonus during launch week!

That’s it for today. If you enjoyed this article, check out the previous parts in Uri’s series:

• Part 1 – Don’t Do This in Poker! Doug Polk vs Mariano High Stakes Analysis
• Part 2 – Elite Poker Coach Uses “Anti-GTO” Strategy
• Part 3 – Doug Polk TRAPS Top Poker Pro in High Stakes Game (Analysis)
• Part 4 – This Poker Hand Gets Crazier and Crazier (Final Table)

Note: Want to discover how to make the right play no matter the hand? Uri Peleg’s brand-new course “The Poker Blueprint” allows you to do just that. Get access now.

The post What Poker Coaches Get Wrong (And What We’re Doing About It) appeared first on Upswing Poker.

The tournament, which featured 17 starting flights and a $5,000 buy-in, saw 6,146 total entries including many of the biggest names in poker. You can see a full replay of the final table here or keep reading for a recap:

Dietrich’s Final Table Run

Dietrich began the final table third in chips with a 57bb stack. He wasn’t involved in any of the early eliminations as play gradually went from 9-handed to 4-handed.

With 4 players remaining, we saw potentially one of the worst bad beats in poker history.

Evgenii Akimov jammed all-in for 20bb on the Button with 6c 4s. Isaac Baron called from the Small Blind with Kc Kd. Baron looked to be in great shape for the double-up after flopping top set on Ks Jc 7c. However, the turn 5c gave Akimov plenty of outs and the river 8d sealed Baron’s fate as his flopped set lost to a straight.

With play 3-handed, Akimov once again found himself jamming with 6s 4d on the Button. Rui Ferreira called in the Big Blind at risk with Ah Kd. The board ran out As Ks 3d 5s 3s giving Akimov a runner-runner flush to beat Ferreira’s top pair.

Heads Up Play Begins

Heads Up play began with Akimov holding a 5:1 chip advantage over Dietrich. However, this lead evaporated as Dietrich doubled up with his Pocket Fives holding vs Ace-King. He then made a Broadway straight vs two pair to take the chip lead.

The final hand saw Akimov limp from the Button with 9c 5d. Dietrich checked back with 8h 2s. The players were 7bb effective to start the hand with Dietrich holding a roughly 6:1 chip lead.

The flop came Kc 8c 6s and Dietrich checked. Akimov bet 1bb with his gutshot straight draw. Dietrich called with his middle pair and the turn came the 3h. Akimov went all-in for a slight overbet of around 1.2x pot. Dietrich made the call and the river came the 3d to secure the win for Dietrich.

With the win, Dietrich was crowned the 2024 WSOP Online International Main Event champion, taking home a bracelet and $4,021,012 top prize, the largest single prize ever awarded in online poker.

Final Table Results

1. Moritz Dietrich ($4,021,012)
2. Evgenii Akimov ($3,099,896)
3. Rui Ferreira ($2,390,418)
4. Isaac Baron ($1,843,337)
5. Diogo Coelho ($1,421,478)
6. Ilya Anatski ($1,096,180)
7. Hai Pan ($845,342)
8. Benjamin Rolle ($651,921)
9. Audrius Stakelis ($502,771)

Want to Learn How Moritz Crushes?

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Moritz Dietrich’s Upswing Lab Modules:

• How ICM Impacts Your Flop Strategy (2 hours and 55 minutes)
• Advanced Preflop Guide For MTT (2 hours and 56 minutes)
• Check-Raising Flops as the Preflop Raiser (2 hours and 28 minutes)
• Probing From the Big Blind (3 hours and 3 minutes)
• Check-Calling on the River Out of Position (3 hours and 15 minutes)
• Betting on the Flop (2 hours and 41 minutes)

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The post Moritz Dietrich Wins Record-Setting $4,021,012 (WSOP Online Main Event) appeared first on Upswing Poker.

Have you ever seen something that made you think “holy ****!”

This poker hand did exactly that for me.

There’s a $1.4 million first prize on the line. And this hand gets crazier on every street.

Note: Want to master winning poker strategies without confusing solvers or complex math? Check out Uri Peleg’s new course “The Poker Blueprint” here. Get access now.

Tournament Background

Tournament: GG Poker Super High Roller ($10,300 Buy-In)
Stage: Final Table 7-Handed
Blinds: 200,000/400,000 (50,000 ante)

Positions and Stack Sizes:

Small Blind: Juan Dominguez (68.2bb)
Big Blind: D Kaladjurdjevic (40.2bb)
Under the Gun: Alexander Zubov (24.3bb)
Lojack: Barak Wisbrod (36.7bb)
Hijack: Hazuzukaa (14.2bb)
Cutoff: Pavel Plesuv (27.5bb)
Button: A Piekazewicz (9.5bb)

Payouts:

1st – $1,421,680
2nd – $1,035,959
3rd – $799,751
4th – $617,609
5th – $477,158
6th – $368,856
7th – $285,345

Important Background

Before getting into this hand analysis, you should understand the main principle of Uri’s Poker Blueprint strategy.

Always start by considering what pot size your hand wants. Then, try to navigate to that pot size as the hand progresses.

Uri will refer to “the pot size your hand wants” throughout this analysis and the Poker Blueprint course. 

Another key principle that comes up in this one: if the pot is already too big for your hand, you can consider bluffing.

Preflop

5 players fold. Small Blind raises 3.5bb with Qs Js. Big Blind calls with As 8c.

Preflop Analysis

An important dynamic to begin with is that this hand takes place between the Small Blind who is chip-leading and the Big Blind who is second in chips.

Small Blind makes a standard raise with Queen-Jack suited. As the chip leader, he should be raising very wide and putting a lot of pressure on the Big Blind.

The Big Blind calls with Ace-Eight offsuit, which is correct. It’s worth noting that he should play defensively, in general, given that he is second in chips playing vs the chip leader.

Flop

The flop comes Ah Ad Kh. The pot is 7.875bb.

Small Blind bets 1bb. Big Blind raises 2.7bb. Small Blind calls.

Uri’s Flop Analysis

Small Blind flops a gutshot straight draw vs the trips for Big Blind.

The first question Uri asks is fundamental: How much money does each player’s hand want?

Small Blind has the kind of hand that would like to bet small once then check down (unless improved). He makes the small bet, which is just perfect for his exact hand.

Big Blind, on the other hand, has an extremely strong hand. And given the wideness of ranges and the shallowness of stacks, this might be a hand that wants to get all the chips in. And if it does, the question is always how. We know he wants a bigger pot. So he could go for it [with a raise] right away or he could just call.

Both of those options are on the table. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The more aggressive your opponent is, firing with air and putting pressure on, maybe you want to call.

Some guys play back against [raises], or disbelieve raises, or they’re calling stations, or they’re just passive. And then you have to build a pot size on your own.

Big Blind makes a small raise. And here, it’s important to recognize at this point, Small Blind’s hand is always going to call because of the pot odds. But the pot is a bit too big for him in the sense that he should no longer be very happy to show down Queen-high. He can consider turning his hand into a bluff at some point.

Turn

The turn comes Jh making the board Ah Ad Kh Jh. The pot is 13.275bb.

Small Blind checks. Big Blind bets 4.4bb. Small Blind raises 11.5bb. Big Blind calls.

Uri’s Turn Analysis

The turn puts three to a flush out there and gives Small Blind bottom pair. Here’s how Uri evaluates each turn decision:

The Jh shuffles things up. And this is where the beauty of the hand is. Because as this hand progresses, these players have to constantly re-evaluate how much their hand is worth and how much money it wants.

Look at Queen-Jack. You just made a pair of Jacks. Is it good enough to show down? Well, yeah, you can now check down and maybe you win. And with a flush and a straight coming in, Big Blind doesn’t want to go for stacks anymore with his trip aces.

But Big Blind still wants a bit more money in the pot. So something like a 1/3 pot bet would be, I’m guessing, roughly where Ace-Eight wants to get to. And that’s what he does. So he re-evaluates correctly.

And now facing this 1/3 pot bet, Small Blind’s Jack is no longer good. So just like Queen-high was not too happy facing the raise, a pair of Jacks is not too happy facing this bet. Sure, you have a gutshot. But there is a flush and a pair on the board. So the pot ballooned out of his comfort zone. And once that happens, you have the option of turning your hand into a bluff.

We don’t want to turn Ace-Two into a bluff here because it’s a bit too strong. But Queen-Jack is weak enough where it’s a reasonable thing to do.

And here, again, there are so many elements to this hand because what sizing do you go with? What value range are you representing? What bluffing range would you have? All of these are things that both of these guys should be thinking about at the same time. And that is what makes this hand so unique.

Now Big Blind is the one who has to re-evaluate because he was making this bet probably hoping to check back the river. And now, boom. The pot ballooned out of control. His Ace-Eight, was raising for value on the flop then betting for value on the turn. But now the pot is too big. So what do you do with Ace-Eight?

Big Blind has a boat draw. So you can’t do anything other than call on the turn. You just have too many outs to improve on an Ax, Kx, Qx, or 8x. Your opponent is presumably repping a flush more than anything else.

River

The river comes Ts making the final board Ah Ad Kh Jh Ts. The pot is 36.275bb.

Small Blind bets 3.6bb. Big Blind raises all-in 22.48bb.

Uri’s River Analysis

A crazy river card improves Small Blind’s semi-bluff to a straight. Here are Uri’s thoughts on this street:

It’s a tough spot with a straight because your value range when you raised the turn is a flush. So if you bet your straight, is it even a value bet at that point? How big can you bet with a straight? Can you check with a straight? It’s a weird spot to play. And in these weird spots when you’re out of position, you have to ask yourself: How big of a pot does a straight want?

And the answer is it’s roughly what’s in the middle. Maybe a tiny bit more. But this is roughly good enough. You’re not reasonably getting called by worse with any sized bet. So he has to re-evaluate.

Big Blind has just a bluff-catcher. He only beats bluffs and he removes some of the bluffs. Small Blind is telling him he has a straight. That’s the main hand that makes sense to bet the size. Or maybe a very low flush.

And now he’s in this situation where he had his trips and a boat draw. But it came the worst runout you could imagine for his hand. And now he’s facing a 10% pot bet. How do you fold trips to a 10% pot bet? So a lot of people here would just kind of click call, get shown the bad news, and move on.

But he’s looking at his Ace-Eight, and he’s thinking there are always 3 options in poker. The pot is too big for my hand, so, yes, I can call. I’m not supposed to fold very often in theory, although it’s very hard for my opponent to come up with bluffs. But I can also shove because he’s saying he has something like a straight or a weak flush.

I could easily have better, so why not turn my Ace-Eight into a bluff? So this hand, which was raising flop for value, betting turn for value, calling turn as a draw, decides to turn itself into a bluff. And this is like haymaker after haymaker. And now Small Blind has to look at his Quen-Jack and be like, okay. This is too big for my hand.

Now my hand is a bluff-catcher again. And now he has to think, well, what would my opponent go with for value? And he has to remember this is an MTT. His opponent would probably not go very thin because he doesn’t want to risk busting. So what would he go with for value?

Well, boats. But most of the hands that make boats would have 3-bet preflop. And then flushes, maybe. So high flushes and medium flushes. Those are the hands he’s worried about.

And he has to think, are those hands going for it? Would they be too scared? Which bluffs are there? Which bluffs are there is crucial. And here you have to go through the process of hand reading and be like, well, he raised the flop. That’s some flush draws. Would you raise flush draws? Maybe not that often. So, yeah, some flush draws, some Ax. Which Ax? Maybe Ax with a 9x, 8x, or 7x.

All of those hands would have bet the turn. All those hands would have called the raise, and those would be his potential bluffing combos on the river. Versus his potential value hands, which, as we said, will mostly be flushes. And how many of those played this way?

Because like we said, the way Big Blind played makes a lot of sense for Ace-Nine through Ace-Seven. Would he turn those into a bluff? This is a spot where a theoretical machine would give you a perfect answer, and then it wouldn’t matter what you do. But humans constantly mess these spots up.

Results

Small Blind calls with the straight and wins the massive 81.24bb pot. Big Blind is eliminated in 7th place.

Here was Uri’s overall thoughts on this hand:

I think, in a way, both players played it amazingly well. Even Big Blind who lost played it amazingly well. Haymaker after haymaker, the hand value changes. The line changes and you have to get to the river and keep track of everything. And, yeah, really just an elite-level hand.

What do you think of this bluff on the river?

Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this hand and Uri’s analysis, check out the previous parts in this series:

• Part 1 – Don’t Do This in Poker! Doug Polk vs Mariano High Stakes Analysis
• Part 2 – Elite Poker Coach Uses “Anti-GTO” Strategy
• Part 3 – Doug Polk TRAPS Top Poker Pro in High Stakes Game (Analysis)

Note: Want to discover how to make the right play no matter the hand? Uri Peleg’s brand-new course “The Poker Blueprint” allows you to do just that. Get access now.

The post This Poker Hand Gets Crazier and Crazier (Final Table) appeared first on Upswing Poker.

Poker is at its best when top players go to battle.

Today’s article will showcase just that: a hand between two damn near legendary pros (Doug Polk and Dan Smith) from a streamed cash game at Lodge Card Club.

The analysis will come from Uri Peleg’s latest strategy video for Upswing Poker.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Note: Want to master winning poker strategies without confusing solvers or complex math? Check out Uri Peleg’s new course “The Poker Blueprint” here. Get access now.

Important Background

Before getting into this hand analysis, you should understand the main principle of Uri’s Poker Blueprint strategy.

Always start by considering what pot size your hand wants. Then, try to navigate to that pot size as the hand progresses.

Uri will refer to “the pot size your hand wants” throughout this analysis and the Poker Blueprint course. 

Another key principle that comes up in this one: if the pot is already too big for your hand, you can consider bluffing.

Preflop

The blinds are $100/$200 ($200 ante) with a $400 straddle.

Dan raises to $1,100 on the Button with Qh Js. Doug 3-bets to $5,500 from the Big Blind with Ad 7d. Dan calls.

The effective stack is roughly $190,000.

Preflop Analysis

Uri begins his analysis by noting that the players are almost 500bb deep when factoring in the straddle.

Dan makes a standard raise on the Button with Queen-Jack offsuit. His raise size is good.

Doug’s 3-bet with Ace-Seven suited is good. Calling would also be a reasonable option.

Faced with this 3-bet, Dan can elect to call or fold. Both options have merit and should be done on occasion.

Flop

The flop comes As Th 7h. The pot is $11,700.

Doug bets $11,500. Dan calls.

Uri’s Flop Analysis

An action flop gives Doug two pair and Dan a gutshot straight draw.

Take a look at Uri’s thoughts on each player’s turn decisions:

We first need to ask ourselves: how big of a pot does each player want? What do they want to happen?

And here, when we look at Doug’s hand and we look at the amount of money behind, we’re like, obviously he has a very strong hand and he wants a lot of money to go in.

How would he be doing if all the money went in? Keep in mind how many runouts there are where all the money going in is good for you. Because let’s say the turn is a Kx, Qx, Jx, Tx, 9x, or 8x. How do you feel about getting 20 extra pots in there? And the answer is not so great.

So, Doug’s hand, while it wants a bigger pot, is going to have to re-assess street-by-street. Certainly, if the board goes 2x 3x, his hand might actually be close to wanting all the money. It depends on the run out. Whereas Dan’s hand has 0 showdown value, but it’s drawing to the nuts. So since the pot is too big for his hand, he could bluff at some point.

Dan has to keep in mind with his hand that, given it might turn into the nuts, it has kind of a higher incentive to bluff than if he had just air. Of course, this board is better for Doug than for Dan, so Doug is gonna play his range more aggressively.

He starts out with a pot-sized c-bet. And what he’s doing here is he’s saying, okay, I’m now taking my hands that want to play for lots of money. And it’s a question of how many of those hands are there.

Can Ace-King do this? Can Ace-Queen do this with all this money behind? Personally, I’m not completely sure at the stack depth that this is the most appropriate way to play those hands. If Doug were 100bb deep, certainly, this would be fine. Maybe even 200bb deep. But 400bb deep, I’m less sure. But he starts out with pot, which is certainly going in the right direction for him and denies equity from draws that Dan might have.

Dan should probably fold here quite often. Whenever you have a hand that should mostly fold, theory would say “sometimes call” because then when you hit, they never put you on a draw. But this is close. But probably a fold just because Doug bet so big.

Turn

The turn comes Qs making the board As Th 7h Qs. The pot is $34,700.

Doug checks. Dan checks.

Uri’s Turn Analysis

The turn gives Dan middle pair in addition to his gutshot straight draw. It also brings a second potential flush draw that both players have to be aware of.

Here are Uri’s thoughts on this:

We get the Qs and now Doug has to re-evaluate. And now his Ace-Seven is actually not aiming for such a big pot size anymore because he’s now losing to Ace-Queen and King-Jack.

Any hand with two spades has a lot of equity against him. So, any spade or heart river and he has to slow down. If the river is a Qx it counterfeits his two pair. So, there are all of these bad things potentially going on.

Now we’re in bad runout land. We have to re-evaluate. And our beautiful hand that wanted all the money now goes to wanting just a bit more money.

He could put around $20,000 in and that’s probably roughly it. And then there’s always a question of how. Do you want to bet $20,000 right now and check the river and hope? Or do you want to check and let your opponent put the money in?

Doug, in this instance, elects to check. How bad of a card the Qs is for him depends on how often Dan has King-Jack. And since Doug bet pot on the flop, this is where hand reading comes in because we’re always thinking about the narrative of the hand and who the card is good or bad for. And part of the nice thing with Doug’s big bet is that it’s supposed to fold out draws, which makes these cards not so bad.

But it looks like Doug doesn’t think that and certainly Dan doesn’t think that. So, they’re both playing in line with what’s going on.

Now, Dan in the situation has a pair of Queens. How big of a pot does a pair of Queens want? Well, if it checks down, he’s probably doing okay.

This is an appropriate pot size for him. I would say when Doug bets and then checks, a lot of his range is going to be hands that hit the Qs, some traps, and some give-ups. I wouldn’t mind Dan bluffing, but I don’t mind the check.

River

The river comes 2h making the final board As Th 7h Qs 2h. The pot is $34,700.

Doug checks. Dan bets $35,000.

Uri’s River Analysis

The river 2h brings in the front door flush draw. Check out Uri’s thoughts on this plus each player’s river decisions:

This card doesn’t change a lot. It does mean that Dan can now have more flushes. It was a nice runout for his range, so it’s okay to consider bluffing. And if you do bluff, you need to think about the story that you’re telling.

So Dan chooses to fire $35,000 after Doug checks. And what’s the story that he’s telling? He’s saying he has a hand that’s worth $35,000. But a flush is worth more than $35,000. So this is a bit of an odd bet. Is he saying he’s betting Ace-King or Ace-Jack for $35,000? That feels a bit too big.

So there’s something a bit odd about the $35,000 bet to me. And these things stand out, you know, depending on how proficient the player is. Generally speaking, less proficient players don’t have the thought process about the bet size. So it wouldn’t necessarily be odd. They might overplay a hand or underplay a hand because they don’t overbet. But Dan is a professional player, so this is a bit odd for him.

Let’s go back to Doug’s decision to check on the river. His hand is worth a small bet, maybe like $10,000. But there’s always a question of what’s the best way to get the money with your hand.

Here, it looks like Doug checks because it came consecutive good cards for Dan. And maybe Dan is going to put the money in for him. The idea with Ace-Seven as a hand strength is it stops Dan from betting Ace-King and Ace-Jack. Those are the main hands he might have and bet. So maybe he thinks he’ll get more money from them by checking than by betting. I think it’s a fair choice when you’re navigating to a pot size when out-of-position.

Facing Dan’s $35,000 bet, Doug is not super happy about it. You kind of have to call because of the dynamic of the situation. He checked Ace-Seven is a trap, so he doesn’t want to fold. But Dan went for a big bet. Now Ace-Seven is no longer really a trap. But with this size where it’s not clear enough what exactly is betting, Ace-Seven is kind of forced to call.

Generally speaking, well-played by both players. You know, they both could have easily chosen different paths, but I think they both kind of correctly recognized roughly where their hands were going for. Dan recognized that his hand was not worth very much despite being middle pair. Doug recognized how bad the board got for his Ace-Seven.

And I think even by Doug’s face on the river, you can tell that he has to call, but it’s not a snap-call.

Results

Doug calls and wins the $104,700 pot.

What Did You Think of Each Player’s Decisions?

Let us know in the comments.

This was the third part of Uri Peleg’s strategy series. Check out the previous parts if you missed them:

• Part 1 – Don’t Do This in Poker! Doug Polk vs Mariano High Stakes Analysis
• Part 2 – Elite Poker Coach Uses “Anti-GTO” Strategy

Note: Want to discover how to make the right play no matter the hand? Uri Peleg’s brand-new course “The Poker Blueprint” allows you to do just that. Get access now.

The post Doug Polk TRAPS Top Poker Pro in High Stakes Game (Analysis) appeared first on Upswing Poker.

Let’s face it. Improving at poker in 2024 can be tough.

A lot of modern poker study methods come down to little more than memorizing solver-generated strategies and charts. This has proven effective for many, but it’s undeniably boring for most players.

But poker coach Uri Peleg* has come up with a different approach that emphasizes creativity and flexibility.

*Uri has coached numerous players who went on to win millions on the felt, including current top pro Barak Wisbrod.

This new approach is meant for players who want to win, but don’t want to spend countless hours studying solvers.

For today’s article, I have pulled 3 unique insights from Uri’s latest strategy video. He plays a short session of online poker, demonstrating the Poker Blueprint approach.

Each takeaway will be centered around a hand history from his session.

Note: Want to master winning poker strategies without confusing solvers or complex math? Check out Uri Peleg’s new course “The Poker Blueprint” here. Get access now.

Important Background

Before getting into the hands and takeaways, you should understand the main principle of Uri’s Poker Blueprint strategy.

Always start by considering what pot size your hand wants. Then, try to navigate to that pot size as the hand progresses.

Uri will refer to “the pot size your hand wants” throughout these hands and the Poker Blueprint course. 

Takeaway #1: Take people out of their comfort zone with creative lines

Your opponents might be well-studied in the most common situations in poker. So a key way to beat them can be to take them out of their comfort zone with creative lines and bet sizings. Take a look at this hand that Uri played at 200NL:

Preflop: Uri is dealt Ac 7c in the Cutoff
Uri raises 2bb. Big Blind calls.

Flop (4.5bb): Kh Jc 8d
Big Blind checks. Uri checks.

Turn (4.5bb): 9s
Big Blind checks. Uri bets 3.4bb. Big Blind calls.

River (11.3bb): Jh
Big Blind checks. Uri bets 16.9bb. Big Blind folds.

Uri checks the flop because his hand is pretty weak and doesn’t want to play a large pot.

He then turns his hand into a bluff on the turn since the opponent showed weakness by checking. Now check out Uri’s thoughts on his decision to bet the river with a 150% pot sizing:

The Jh river is not the most intuitive card to keep blasting on. And this is a spot where his ability to read the story is very, very important.

So generally speaking, when the pot is too big for your hand, it’s a potential bluff candidate. And you can choose to bluff in all sorts of routes. If I start by going bet-bet-bet, the pressure on him is just to not overfold to direct aggression. And that’s one of the things that people are most practiced at, even if they probably still do overfold.

By going check-bet-bet, I’m putting pressure on him to defend correctly with a range that he’s much less practiced in playing. And when people are in these spots where they’re winging it, a lot of the time, they kind of give their hand away. So by checking twice, a lot of people will not have enough strong hands in their range.

He had a chance to be aggressive once I checked back and he didn’t go for it. So I can attack. That’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull. This is a spot that many, many people are messing up consistently.

But given that I bet big on the turn, how can I still bet big on the Jh river? Would I bet a Jx on the turn this big? Am I saying that I have a straight or Pocket Nines? Would I still bet Pocket Aces on the river or a good Kx? All these questions should have been in your head. Also how often does he donk bet his Jx on the river? Because if he donk bets all his Jx, I can keep betting my Kx.

The truth is, to me, until someone proves themselves at these lower limits, I’m like: You look weak. I’m putting on pressure.

Takeaway #2: When you bet the river, know what you are representing

Learning to tell a consistent story is extremely important, especially when bluffing. Take a look at this hand and accompanying analysis from Uri at 200NL:

Preflop: Uri is dealt 8s 7d in the Big Blind
Lojack raises 2bb. Uri calls.

Flop (4.5bb): Js 9d 2h
Uri checks. Lojack bets 1.8bb. Uri calls.

Turn (8.1bb): Ad
Uri checks. Lojack checks.

River (8.1bb): 4d
Uri bets 22bb. Lojack folds.

It’s worth noting that Uri’s call preflop is probably a bit too loose depending on the rake (though he’s probably playing a bit looser to generate examples for the video).

He check-calls the flop with his gutshot straight draw and then faces a check-back on the turn. Here is how Uri decides to approach this river:

So like we said, we want to attack these discontinued aggression spots. You could go for all sorts of sizes here, but we want to tell a coherent story. And the story I’m going to tell is I have something really, really strong.

The thing with this spot is that there are a lot of hands that missed. It’s not easy for me to have an Ax. I can’t bet big with a Jx. So if I make a normal-sized bet, it’s very easy to call.

The thing you want to be thinking about here is the narrative of the hand. When you bet the river, which hand are you telling the other guy you have? You could tell him you have a Jx. But then the bet would need to be very small. And you could tell him you have an Ax and then the bet would be medium. But there are not many Ax hands you can have. And then the last option is you could tell him you have a flush or two pair.

In theory, your opponent should check-back some draws and strong Ax to make your life kind of tough. But unless they show you they can do that, this is a very tough bet to call. It puts a lot more pressure on people to know what’s going on. So just a way of attacking this discontinued aggression combined with thinking about the narrative and what hand I’m repping.

Takeaway #3: There are multiple ways to keep the pot size small with a mediocre hand

Just check-calling is not the only way to get to a cheap showdown with a marginal hand.

Preflop: Uri is dealt Ah Jd on the Button
Hijack raises 2bb. Uri calls.

Flop (5.5bb): Kh Jc 8d
Hijack bets 1.4bb. Uri raises 3.9bb. Hijack folds.

Take a look at Uri’s thoughts on his decision to check-raise small as a method to keep the pot size small:

How big a pot does Ace-Jack offsuit want? When my opponent bets 1.4bb, the answer is that I want a little bit more in the pot, but not very much. There are all sorts of ways you can accomplish that. One would be to call and one would actually be to raise small.

3.9bb is roughly the pot size my Ace-Jack is aiming at. So let’s see if they are capable of reacting to this ridiculously small raise. It doesn’t make sense. Why would I raise a flopped set so small? It’s a very weird size. But it’s very tough to react to this. Imagine you’re him. You have Pocket Tens, Pocket Nines, Pocket Queens, or Ace-Five suited. It’s very, very hard.

Did you catch part 1 of this series about the $74K+ Doug vs Mariano hand?

Check it out here if you haven’t.

Don’t Do This in Poker! Doug Polk vs Mariano High Stakes Analysis

Note: Want to discover how to make the right play no matter the hand? Uri Peleg’s brand-new course “The Poker Blueprint” allows you to do just that. Get access now.

The post Elite Poker Coach Uses “Anti-GTO” Strategy appeared first on Upswing Poker.

Even high stakes poker pros make mistakes.

Let’s dive into a high stakes hand played between Doug Polk and Mariano — featuring analysis from the legendary Uri Peleg.

And despite both Doug and Mariano being winning high stakes players, Uri believes both players made mistakes on the river.

Note: Want to master winning poker strategies without confusing solvers or complex math? Check out Uri Peleg’s new course “The Poker Blueprint” here. Get access now.

Watch the video version of this hand here.

Preflop Action

The blinds are $25/$50, but there are some crazy straddles up to $400.

Tito raises to $1,000 from the Cutoff with 9h 9c.

Tesla calls on the Button with Ad 6h.

Doug 3-bets to $5,000 from the Big Blind with Kh Qh.

Mariano 4-bets from the second straddle to $13,000 with Ks Kd.

Tito folds. Tesla folds. Doug calls.

The effective stack between Doug and Mariano is just over $200,000.

Preflop Analysis

Tito’s initial raise with Pocket Nines is standard. He should be playing a tighter range than normal with so many straddles, but Pocket Nines is easily strong enough to raise.

Tesla’s call with Ace-Six offsuit on the Button is far too loose. While this call isn’t the subject of this article, Uri notes that when you act after someone who is playing loose like this, you should squeeze a more linear range including high card hands and fewer bluffs like suited connectors.

Every other preflop action that occurs in this hand is well played. Doug should 3-bet with King-Queen suited (which he did). Mariano should 4-bet with Pocket Kings (which he did). Tito and Tesla should both be folding facing the 4-bet, and Doug makes a good call.

(Note: Folding versus a 4-bet with King-Queen suited might be a good play against tight players in your games. But against an aggressive pro like Mariano, it’s a good call.)

Flop Action

The flop comes Qc 6d 4h. The pot is $28,575.

Doug checks. Mariano bets $8,000. Doug calls.

Flop Analysis

Uri says that the first question to ask yourself after every flop is: Who’s range is this board good for?

Here is Uri’s answer to this question:

Generally speaking, a board with one high card and two disconnected low cards is very good for the preflop aggressor, which is Mariano. So, the way this is going to play is Doug is going to check everything and then Mariano is going to take a very aggressive betting lead.

That’s the big picture.

The next question Uri elects to ask is: What are the specific hands and what size of a pot do these hands want to play in this situation?

You can see Uri’s answer to that question here, which is guided by the fact that they are playing with about $200,000 behind (in a pot that is currently only $28,575):

How big of a pot do Mariano’s Pocket Kings want to play?

The answer here would be, generally speaking, very big. You’re only losing to Pocket Aces and Pocket Queens. Realistically, I don’t think Doug is going to have Pocket Sixes, Pocket Fours, or 64-suited here.

So, you’re ahead of enough where Kings, if it were the only hand in your range, would want to bet big on the flop and turn, then shove [on the river] on some runouts.

But not on every runout. Certainly, if the turn is an Ace, Queen, or even a Jack or a Ten, you might slow down. Jack and Ten turns slow you down because Doug can have Pocket Jacks and Pocket Tens, as well as some hands that improve to two pairs.

But at this point, Kings want to play a fairly big pot.

That’s how Mariano wants to play his hand. But what about Doug?

King-Queen suited for Doug, despite being top pair and a good kicker, doesn’t want to play a massive pot.

Given Mariano’s cold 4-bet, his range contains Pocket Aces, Pocket Kings, Pocket Queens, Pocket Jacks, Ace-King, Ace-Queen, etc. So, King-Queen won’t be doing that great when a lot of money goes in.

Certainly, Doug wants some money to go in. And he certainly wants money to go in if Mariano has something like Pocket Jacks.

But King-Queen for Doug is aiming for a very modestly sized pot. Say $20,000 more going in is good for King-Queen. But any money beyond that, you’re not very happy.

Back to the action. Mariano goes for a small bet of $8,000 into about $28,000. Here’s Uri’s analysis of that small bet:

The idea of the small bet is to disguise which hand you have from your opponent. Because like we said, he has his Aces, Kings, and Queens that want a big pot. But he also has his Jacks and Ace-King that want a small pot.

And when you have a big range advantage, which he does here, you get to sometimes make the small bet to start and then split your range up later in the head. So whenever you see someone make these small bets, that generally means they’re betting close to everything in their range.

Turn Action

The turn comes the Jh making the board Qc 6d 4h Jh. The pot is $44,575.

Doug checks. Mariano checks.

Turn Analysis

An action turn card gives Doug a flush draw to go with his top pair.

Here are Uri’s thoughts on how this turn should impact both players’ strategies:

This turn changes things for Mariano. It devalues his Kings and makes it so that his hand wants a smaller pot. That’s because he’s no longer getting called by Tens and Pocket Nines. Plus, he’s now losing to Jacks and Queen-Jack suited. So, the region of hands that he can get called by that he beats just got a lot narrower. But it’s still there.

I think Mariano should want around $30,000 extra to go into this pot. And he can do that by betting $30,000 now to check back the river. Or he can check back the turn and play the river.

When you’re in position, you always have lots of options. But knowing which pot size you’re aiming for is very important.

Meanwhile, Doug turned the flush draw, which is going to help him to continue. But unless he hits, it doesn’t change the pot size he wants with his hand.

River Action

The river comes the 5d making the final board Qc 6d 4h Jh 5d. The pot is $44,575.

Doug bets $15,000. Mariano snap-calls. Mariano wins the $74,575 pot.

The big mistake happened there. Did you catch it? I’ll let Uri explain.

River Analysis

The 5d might seem at first like a card that changes things, since now some straights and new two pairs are possible.

But Uri brings us back to preflop, where the presence of a loose player like Tesla makes it less likely that Doug and Mariano have suited connectors that have improved to straights or two pair in their ranges.

Now, back to Uri for his analysis of both Doug and Mariano’s river decisions:

I think, in practice, this river is kind of a brick. And if we’re thinking of ranges, Doug has top pair. We said before he wants a bit more money to go in. But look at the board and think of Mariano’s range. How can Doug get called by worse when he bets King-Queen?

Mariano, as we said, can have Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, Ace-King, Ace-Queen, and maybe King-Queen. So, it’s tough to get called by worse. I’d say, maybe Mariano has Ace-Jack suited, King-Queen suited, or Ace-King. And the rest of the time, you lose.

So, Doug’s hand, very surprisingly for the absolute hand strength, I think is not worth a bet. Or if you bet, it should be something tiny like $5,000. That’s to the best of my estimation regarding the ranges here. It’s just very, very tough for Mariano to have a worse hand.

Mariano ends up snap-calling the bet, which Uri believes was a mistake.

Here are his thoughts on this decision:

I think [Mariano’s decision to snap-call] is him not thinking through his options all the way through. Because like we said, Kings want around $30,000 extra in the pot. And which hands does Doug have in his range that beat his Kings? Queen-Jack suited, Pocket Jacks, Pocket Queens, maybe Pocket Aces.

But which of those hands would have played like this? A hand like Queen-Jack suited or Pocket Jacks might try to go for a lot more than $15,000 on the river. And if that’s true, then given what happened, Mariano now has the best hand with Kings and should raise for value.

Now, I think his hand is worth more. But you always risk running into traps when you re-open the action. So, I wouldn’t mind if he thought about it and decided to just call. But I feel like not thinking about it is generally an error. 

Final Advice from Uri

Uri’s final advice to everyone reading:

Whenever you’re in a hand, it’s very, very important to think of all the options and not let your opponent get away with determining the pot size.

That’s it for this one. Check back next Friday for another article/video featuring Uri’s expert analysis. There will be 4 of these in total, all leading up to the late September launch of The Poker Blueprint.

Good luck at the tables this week!

Note: Want to discover how to make the right play no matter the hand? Uri Peleg’s brand-new course “The Poker Blueprint” allows you to do just that. Get access now.

The post Don’t Do This in Poker! Doug Polk vs Mariano High Stakes Analysis appeared first on Upswing Poker.

For today’s article, we will be looking at a massive $100/$200 ($200 ante) pot that Upswing founder and Lab coach Doug Polk played on stream at Lodge Card Club.

Let’s dive in.

Note: Want to peek behind the curtain to learn how Doug Polk approaches live poker games? Today’s analysis comes directly from Doug Polk’s new Upswing Lab module “Live Cash Lessons” where his teaching emphasizes things live poker players see regularly like multiway pots, straddles, and more. Access these lessons now by joining the Upswing Lab and using the code DOUG50 for $50 off.

Preflop Action

Goofy raises $600 from UTG with 5c 5h. Taras 3-bets from the Hijack with 9d 8d. Curtis calls from the Button with Qc 9c. Doug calls from the Small Blind with 7c 7d. Tesla calls from the Big Blind with Jh Ts. Goofy calls.

Doug’s Preflop Analysis

Here is Doug’s preflop analysis of his decision to cold-call with Pocket Sevens:

Typically speaking, the GTO answer to how you’re supposed to play Pocket Sevens here is to primarily fold. And then occasionally cold 4-bet. But mainly just fold. But when you’re in a game like this where people are getting in there with weak hands and you have a player behind who’s very likely also going to continue, I think it makes a little more sense to open things up outside of our normal range and go for the cold-call. If I call $1,800 here, I think it is very likely I win a sizable pot. The amount of action in this game is crazy.

The downside of cold-calling is you might get squeezed. But it’s not a very good squeeze spot for Tesla. He has to face the opener and the 3-bettor. There are a lot of good hands here, so a lot of incentive to just call. So, ultimately, we do decide to get in there for just the call. I would like to see occasional 4-betting with this hand but primarily call.

Flop Action

The flop comes As Kd 7h. The pot is $9,200.

Everybody checks.

Flop Analysis

There isn’t much to say here. Even though he flops a set, Doug checks as he would with all of his hands on this board. Nobody else has much other than Tesla with a gutshot straight draw and Taras with a backdoor flush draw.

Turn Action

The turn comes the Qd making the board As Kd 7h Qd. The pot is $9,200.

Doug bets $3,500. Tesla calls. Goofy folds. Taras calls. Curtis folds.

Doug’s Turn Analysis

An action turn gives Tesla the nut straight and Taras a flush draw. Here is Doug’s analysis of playing his flopped set on the turn:

So a couple of things we’re thinking about here as I bet $3,500. To start with, you typically speaking want to avoid doing all too much slow-playing, particularly in multiway pots. But once it checks through, a lot of the players behind will be very weak. The player on the Button checks back. He should be very weak on the flop.

The other players have not signaled anything about their hand strength by checking, because they would check to Taras no matter what. But, you know, it’s a spot where we typically want to be betting and driving the action. I don’t mind occasionally trapping some very good hands here to check-raise. But Pocket Sevens doesn’t really function well there.

Let’s just say I check-raise. It’s possible someone has Ace-Queen. Maybe they have King-Queen. But a lot of the time, they’re going to have either Pocket Queens or Jack-Ten. Of course, both of those scenarios are bad. So when our hand is not quite good enough to check-raise and our hand is definitely ahead of the field, we want to be betting.

Over to Tesla here with Jack-Ten. Kind of an interesting situation. He could go ahead and raise. Or he could just slow-play and hope some other people get involved. He decided just to go for the slow-play. This is actually a pretty interesting decision from Tesla. He makes a lot of raises, so I find it a little interesting he decided just to trap here.

Over to Taras now with a flush draw. He almost has to call. It’s worth noting this situation is not very good for Taras because there are some Ace-high diamonds and Jack-high diamonds. Not really very many Ten-high diamonds. But a few higher flush draws. And he does not have a gutshot to go along with it. So, I think it’s actually closer than you might think on the turn, but I do like the call. Getting a pretty good price in position.

And then Curtis with a pair of queens, you know, third pair. But are you ever beating the field? What rivers can you play? He makes a smart fold.

River Action

The river comes the Qh making the final board As Kd 7h Qd Qh. The pot is $19,700.

Doug bets $14,000. Tesla raises to $40,000. Doug calls.

Doug wins the $99,700 pot.

Doug’s River Analysis

Doug now has a full house vs Tesla’s straight and Taras’ missed flush draw.

So with a Queen river here, a lot is going on to think about. To start with, Ace-Queen and King-Queen are both hands that I imagine both players can have here. So there are certainly going to be some hands that my opponents can have to have me beat. I don’t think Taras would be 3-betting King-Queen offsuit in Middle Position versus Under the Gun. So it’s just a couple King-Queen suited combos for him.

I do think Tesla will basically always have Ace-Queen and King-Queen here. So he has a lot of combinations of those strong hands. He may raise them on the turn sometimes, but I’m a lot more concerned about that.

Because of that, I’m not really a big fan of going for the check-raise here. It feels a little bit too weak. I also think Pocket Queens is possible for Taras here. Not all that likely, but definitely possible. As well as Pocket Aces that might occasionally trap the flop.

So, plenty of hands that can potentially have us beat. Our hand is definitely good enough to get some value. I like going ahead and just betting about 2/3 pot here into both players.

And now over to Tesla with his straight. This is a situation that really sucks for Jack-Ten. You also have the player behind. So I think this is a pretty clear cut just a call from Tesla. He does ultimately decide to raise. I see why. He’s thinking maybe I can get some value from a hand like a Queen, Ace-King, Ace-Seven, or something. But I’m probably not even betting those.

If that river was a 3x and I overbet and he jammed or raised massive, almost certainly he gets paid. So a very unfortunate river there for Tesla. It’s a pretty straightforward hand from us. Just reiterating the general concept of when we have bottom set, we are betting and trying to get paid. We are not here to slow-play with bottom set.

Would You Have Played Any Streets Differently?

Let us know in the comments.

Note: As opposed to most poker coaching that focuses on Solvers and theory, Doug Polk’s new Upswing Lab module will help you learn how to create good strategies while playing live poker.

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The post Doug Polk Flops Set At The Perfect Time (High Stakes Cash Game) appeared first on Upswing Poker.

…but arguably none provide better strategic analysis than Upswing Lab coach Gary Blackwood.

To give you a sneak peek at Gary’s insight, I’m going to zoom into a hand he played in $5/$10/$20 cash game at Bellagio.

Note: When he’s not playing live cash games for his vlog, Gary is beating some of the toughest online cash games in the world. This strong background allows him to share strategic tips that you can’t find in most poker vlogs. Subscribe to Gary Blackwood’s vlog here!

Let’s dive in!

Preflop

It’s a $5/$10 game at the Bellagio and the $20 straddle is on.

Gary is dealt 7d 7s in the straddle.

The player in the Cutoff raises $50. The Big Blind calls. Gary calls.

Preflop Analysis

There isn’t too much to say about preflop here.

Gary makes a good decision to call with his Pocket Sevens in the Straddle. He is closing the action preflop and is in position versus the Big Blind. So, he can call with a wide range. Pocket Sevens have plenty of equity and playability to call.

Flop

With $155 in the pot, the flop is Ks 7h 2d.

The Big Blind checks. Gary checks. Cutoff bets $50. Big Blind folds. Gary calls.

Flop Analysis

The first real decision in this hand happens on the flop when Gary has to decide between calling or raising with his flopped set. Here is what he had to say about this spot:

I will always raise my Pocket Twos here. But I think my opponent is just range betting. Pocket Sevens block some of the types of hands that he can bet-call with. It’s also a dry board and this guy loves to barrel versus weakness it seems, so I decided to just call [to give him the chance to keep betting].

Turn

The turn is the (Ks 7h 2d)As with $255 in the pot.

Gary checks. Cutoff bets $200. Gary raises $720. Cutoff calls.

Turn Analysis

The turn brings in both an Ace and a backdoor flush draw. Gary faces a large bet and is once again faced with a decision to call or raise.

I bust out the turn check-raise. I make it $720 to go. We’re really quite deep here, so I think in hindsight I prefer like $850. Just a bit too small here by me.

River

With $1,695 in the pot, the river is the (Ks 7h 2d As) 4h.

Gary bets $1,200. Cutoff raises all-in $2,900 effective. Gary…?

River Analysis

The river is about as blank as possible. There are no possible flushes and no realistic straights that anyone could have. So, Gary has effectively the third nuts, only losing to Pocket Aces and Pocket Kings (both of which are possible holdings in the Cutoff’s range).

With this dynamic, Gary explains his thought process for his initial bet:

There’s $1,600 in the middle and I’ve got $2,900 behind. I decided to milk my opponent instead of jamming. I bet out for $1,200 trying to get a call from a top pair type hand. Maybe even a hero call from something like King-Queen if he thinks I’ve missed my flush or something.

But the hand doesn’t end here.

To Gary’s surprise, the Cutoff jams for about $1,700 more and he faces a brutal spot:

I just don’t think I’m ahead here. I’m never calling two pair on the river here versus a jam. So it feels like he can’t shove Ace-King himself since he should not expect to get called by worse.

He’s also bluffing here like 1% of the time, and I can’t beat value. As sick as it is, I just don’t think I have the best hand here. Why would he shove Ace-King?

After about 90 seconds I just sigh and tell myself that this is the literal top of my range; I can’t have a stronger hand than this.

I can’t bring myself to fold. Maybe he’s got Ace-King, but I doubt it.

Results

Gary calls after deciding he can’t fold the literal top of his range.

I’ll let Gary reveal the results:

He confidently turns over his hand and, oh no, he’s got Pocket Deuces [for bottom set].

I immediately feel like the worst guy in the world. I apologize profusely as I turn my hand over and he looks at it. I feel really awful about this. This pot being pushed my way is absolutely ginormous. Like I said, I didn’t expect to see worse for value. I never expected a bluff. I cannot tell you how close I came to folding this.

Gary takes down the $8,000 pot.

What do you think of the opponent’s shove on the river?

Let us know in the comments.

Note: While Gary gives excellent strategic advice in his vlog, you can learn even more from his comprehensive lessons inside the Upswing Lab.

Gary has become one of the Lab’s most popular coaches. He’s released a total of 10 lessons covering topics like:

• Crushing live poker games
• Costly cash game mistakes to avoid
  
• How to play overpairs like a pro
  
• & more!

Get access to all of Gary’s lessons, an easy-to-use preflop chart app, and so much more when you join the Upswing Lab today!

The post Will This Poker Pro Really Fold A Set? (Analysis) appeared first on Upswing Poker.