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MED - Opening

Poker and the Minimum Effective Dose | Podcast #87

By Sky Matsuhashi on September 27, 2019

The minimum effective dose is the smallest dose that will produce a desired outcome.  In this podcast series, I’m giving you the minimum effective dose strategies among 10 different themes you MUST learn to turn yourself into the profitable poker player you want to be.

Updated! Originally posted August 16, 2016.

The 10 MED’s of Poker 

1. Pre-flop Ranges

Utilizing ranges will set yourself up for poker success by choosing better starting poker hands for every situation.  I’ll give you the ranges and sizings I use preflop.  I’ll also discuss all the necessary concepts to help you make great open-raising, isolation raising, 2bet calling and 3betting decisions.  I will show you through additional companion videos how to use Flopzilla to help you work with ranges and learn the equities of hand vs hand, hand vs range and range vs range.

The Best Texas Holdem Starting Poker Hands and Ranges

2. Stealing Blinds

Stealing is a valuable play in all forms of poker.  I’ll teach you the math behind steal bets.  Mostly it’s break-even math, like my 4bb bluff bet has to work X% of the time.  And I’ll show you why it’s important to be stealing quite often in all forms of poker.

Blind Stealing Episode #96

Steal Popup #97

Steal Positional Analysis, Ranges and Bet Sizing #99

Blind Stealing Consequences and Switching Tables #102

3. 3bets

3betting is an important skill that we need to understand in today’s aggressive games.  We’ll develop 3bet ranges and 3bet defending ranges.

The Essentials Episode #104

Value 3bets #105

Bluff 3bets #107

3bet Defense #108

4. Blind Play

Blinds are defended very widely nowadays.  You need to understand how and when to defend, and how to exploit those who defend too much or not enough.  We’ll discuss blind vs blind confrontations as well.

Pre-flop Blind Defense Episode #110

Post-flop Blind Defense #113

Blind Vs Blind #120

5. Exploiting Opponents

I’ll discuss each basic player type, their tendencies and how to exploit them.  We’ll also get into the common ranges these players play and how our ranges fair vs theirs.  I’ll also cover the most important HUD stats that help you gauge your opponent’s play.

Gathering Information On Opponents Episode #123

Table Select for High Profit Potential – Avoid the Sharks! #282

Consider Before You Click and 11 Essential HUD Stats #125

6. Continuation Bets

Cbet Principles will be the first episode which will cover the basics behind this important (and ubiquitous) play.  We’ll talk board textures and opponent ranges.  Double-barrels for value and as bluffs will be covered, as well as how to react to specific cbet defensive plays (like the check-raise, cbet raise or float).

Cbet Principles Episode #133

Cbetting Board Texture #134

Double Barrel Cbets #135

Reacting to Cbet Defense Plays #137

7. Post-flop Math

We’ll cover everything math related from Expected Value (EV), Pot Equity, outs and the odds of hitting draws and implied odds.  We’ll discuss what hands are good to chase and which aren’t.  There will be a big dive into the math of determining if your call or semi-bluff is a profitable one.

Hot and Cold Equity, Outs & Odds, Percentage Form and Combo Counting Episode #138

Implied Odds #140

Expected Value, Pot Equity and REDI #143

8. Post-Flop Plays

Because we’re targeting players, defending blinds and getting called by weak players, we need to know how to play both OOP and IP post-flop as the pre-flop caller.

The Check-raise Episode #145

The Donk Bet #146

Float Bets and Probe Bets #147

9. Hand Reading

This is a crucial skill that we need to develop in order to make the best decisions possible.  We train this through daily off-the-felt work to develop great thought-process habits that we can use on-the-felt.

How to do Poker Hand Reading

The Benefits of Flopzilla When Hand Reading #151

Avoiding the Fixed Mindset #152

10. Poker Mindset

Having a growth mindset in poker is key.  Part of this will be understanding/accepting variance, something I haven’t discussed yet at all.  We’ll get more into Kaizen and working to constantly improve your game. I’ll discuss my favorite mindset question of all time: “What am I doing wrong?”

Pre-session Poker Mindset #163

In-game Poker Mindset Techniques #165

Study Session Mindset Techniques #166

Sleep, Eat, Move, Improve… Your Mind #168

SMARTER Goals and Developing Good Habits #169

Keep Stress at Bay and Have a “Bring it on!” Attitude #171

Jump Start the 1st Minimum Effective Dose: Opening Theory and Ranges

Some of you have never used ranges before, so with that I found a great resource to get you started.  Doug Hull at redchippoker.com created some awesome pre-flop range infographics.  These puppies give you recommendations, both tight and loose, for opening, calling and 3betting pre-flop.  The ranges themselves come from Ed Miller’s book, ‘The Course,’ but Doug put them together in a lovely, easy to follow infographic.

Let’s take a look at one of the ranges he gives you.  The loose BTN opening range is 33.3% or 442 combos of hands.  That sounds pretty solid to me.  Lots of steal hands mixed in with all the value hands.

BTN pre-flop range

Within this range 116 combos are 3betting hands.  Out of this 116 hands, there are 40 combos that could be considered bluffs or semi-bluffs.  They’re hands like 75s, 97s, A2s-A5s and some suited broadways.

BTN 3bet hands

The great thing about having so many semi-bluffing hands in your 3bet range is that it ups the aggression when you have ultimate position on the BTN.  This also has the added benefit of making it harder for opponents to read you.  Additionally, having all of your bluffs be suited and connected or gappers makes them more like semi-bluffs because they can spike big hands and can be used to push weaker ranges off their hands post-flop with lots of drawing equity.

So I highly recommend downloading and using Doug Hull’s infographic over there on redchippoker.com by going through www.smartpokerstudy.com/doughullranges.

Podcast Challenge

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode:  Remember that list of 10 MED’s I asked you to write at the beginning of the podcast during the mission?  Well, let me know how and why your list differed from mine.  I’d love to get your input into my list of Poker’s MED’s and how you would rather it be organized.  Who knows, your input might open my eyes to something new I haven’t thought of.  Kaizen in action, always working to improve and open to suggestions!  Ganbatte!

Up Next…

In podcast #88 I’ll answer 3 listener questions.  Next week we’ll kick-off this new series, The MED’s of Poker, by hitting MED #1: Opening Theory and Ranges.

Until next time, study smart, play much and make your next session the best one yet.

Getting More Bread & Butter in Your Poker Play Sessions | Podcast #187

By Sky Matsuhashi on May 17, 2018

In this episode, I discuss how to get more Bread & Butter out of your poker play sessions and how to avoid non-B&B spots.

In episode 186, I played for you a chapter from my upcoming book, ‘Preflop Online Poker.’  The chapter is called Stealing Fundamentals.

You control your actions (2:30)

You might not realize it, but every tough spot and every favorable spot you find yourself in is due to your own choices.

  • Got to the flop with JJ as the preflop caller in the BB? Your own doing.
  • Got to the flop in position with AK versus 5 others? Your own doing.
  • Got to the flop with 22 on the AK2 board after 3betting preflop? Your own doing.

You control your actions in every hand you play.

You can purposefully put yourself in more B&B situations and you can actively avoid non-B&B situations.

Getting More Bread & Butter (3:30)

First: Play with a B&B mindset.

This is when you search for and put yourself in the most profitable of situations: in position on the flop, as the preflop raiser and against 1 or 2 players.

Second: Create ranges for open raising and 3betting.

Creating ranges off the felt allows you to free your mind for important in-game factors to consider.

For your ranges, you want to Open Raise and Isolate more from the CO and BTN, so your ranges should be wider here.  From the MP and earlier, stay nice and tight.  You can do on-the-fly range adjustment if your opponents are allowing you to get in more B&B spots.

For open raising, I recommend at least a 20% in the CO and 30% on the BTN).  For 3betting, I recommend 3%+ in the CO and 6% or greater on the BTN.  You can increase your BB ranges as well when the only player you’re facing is the SB.

Open raising range recommendations:

  • EP through MP: 12%
  • CO: 20%
  • BTN: 30%
12% EP open raising range

 

31% BTN open raising range

 

20% CO open raising range

Before you click RAISE, consider how the remaining opponents will respond.  Look at stats like 2bet Call and Preflop 3bet by position.  This can tell you so much more than just the total stat percentage.

Third: In-game play

Assess your table and label it a B&B Table or not.  A B&B Table is one that lets you put yourself in lots of B&B spots.  So, it gets folded to you a lot and the players don’t fight back or call your open raises and 3bets too frequently.  You can also open more from the MP like in the Hijack if the CO & BTN are foldy.

If a hand is in your range, first consider if it’s a good situation.  Just because it’s in your range doesn’t mean it’s worth playing.  Consider your opponents and the situation first.

Actively search for situations where you can open raise and 3bet more frequently with hands outside of your ranges.  Look for players to your right who have tight ranges and fold a lot preflop.  It’s also good when they open raise wide but fold to your in position 3bets a lot.

Bet Sizing

You can’t control your opponent’s actions, but you can influence their decisions with optimal bet sizing that will give you what you want.  If the BTN loves to 3bet CO open raises, open for more like 3.5bb or 4bb if you don’t want to face the 3bet.  If in the HJ and the CO and BTN call too frequently, then open raise or isolate bigger.

3bet more often when you can to give you B&B as well as avoid multi-way pots where you’re the caller.  Look to do this more in the CO and BTN.  Maybe KQ is a calling hand in your range.  You can turn calling hands into 3betting hands if it’s profitable to do so.

The critical question to ask yourself before clicking RAISE with a calling hand is:

How will the player respond?

If they can call with worse, then it’s absolutely fine to turn your AJs calling hand into a value 3betting hand and simultaneously put yourself in a B&B situation.  And if they fold, great!  If you were bluffing with your 3bet, then you just earned a 4.5bb pot without even needing to see the flop.  If you were value betting and they folded, oh well.  At least you earned their chips easily instead of allowing them to cbet and take down the pot in case you missed the flop.

3bet in the BB more versus SB open raises (these are wide ranges that will often fold to 3x 3bets).

Sticky Note for your sessions this week:

Get more Bread & Butter: IP on the flop, with the opportunity to Cbet and against 1 or 2 players.

 

Avoiding Non-Bread & Butter (17:50)

To avoid non-B&B situations, it’s pretty simple: call less often.  But what can happen to some of us is we look down at a hand like J9s and QTs and A8o and we imagine the possibilities.  We need to not allow ourselves to get suckered into making seemingly +EV calls with hands that are hard to play and in situations that will be hard to extract value out of.

Some people treat calling like a default play.  It’s suited?  I call.  Connected?  I call.  Random AX hand?  I call.  Pocket Aces?  I 3bet.  Calling must never be a default play.  You’re giving your opponent initiative on the next street, and we all know how much easier it is to take a pot down when you bet with initiative.  Don’t give other players this advantage without good cause.

First: Create calling ranges that limit your calling opportunities.

You know that calling is a not-as-profitable play, so limit how often you do this.

Calling ranges can be bigger when in position on the flop, but if you’re expecting to be out of position, keep them very tight.  Also, you want to call tight because your call can cause a cascade of calls.  Multi-way pots are harder to win, and you called, so it’s anti-B&B in these situations.

BTN call vs CO open

 

4.4% EP calling range

Second: Utilize the calling ranges in-game

If a hand falls outside of the calling ranges you set, your first instinct is to fold.

But, if your hand falls within the range, before clicking CALL, ask yourself this incredibly important question:

“Why am I calling here?”

If you’re thinking about getting involved in a non-B&B spot, you must have a great reason for doing so.

Great reasons to call:

  • My hand is ahead of Villain’s range (AQ when Villain has every Ace in their range).
  • I’m disguising my incredibly strong hand against an aggressive post-flop player (AA).
  • If I 3bet this value hand, the opponent is folding all worse and only calling with better (JJ vs QQ+ continuance range).

Bad reasons to call:

  • I don’t want to fold!
  • I can hit a miracle hand (J8s, 96s, 87o)
  • It’s only 1bb, so what if I’m out of position against 4 other players (in the BB with J4o against a min-open and 3 callers)

Visualize post-flop play before you click CALL.  What boards help you and hinder your opponent?  How will they likely play the flop?  Look at stats and history.  What position will you be in?  How can you possibly bluff or get value post-flop in this spot?

Challenge (26:05)

Here’s my challenge to you for this episode:  Create open raising and 3bet ranges that are tight in the EP and MP but increase a lot in the CO and BTN.  You can increase your BB ranges as well when the only player you’re facing is the SB.  Play your sessions this week with a B&B mindset: try to put yourself into as many B&B situations as you can.  And try to avoid those non-B&B situations by constricting your calling ranges and maybe turn some calling hands into 3betting hands.  Don’t forget to use that sticky note: Get more B&B: in position on the flop, with the opportunity to cbet and against 1 or 2 players.

Now it’s your turn to take action and do something positive for your poker game.

Support the Show

Laura Clarke picked up my “Poker Mathematics Webinar” and she got $5 off by going through this link: https://gum.co/bYkwJ/5off  Thank you so much, Laura.

Poker Focus Session #2 – Opening Hands & HH Rev

By Sky Matsuhashi on November 18, 2015

Poker Focus Session 2 HH Review

Poker Focus Session 2 HH ReviewI recently played another cash Poker Focus Session, this time at 10NL.  My main focus in the session was once again on opening hands.

Opening is the most common play in poker.  The more I’m acquainted w/opening, the better my overall game will be.  This is a minimum effective dose (MED) for poker and everyone should work on it.  I opened a very wide range of hands (lots aren’t in my normal opening range) in an attempt to better understand how opp’s react to my opens and how the hands fare post-flop.

I recorded the focus session first, then the next day made the Hand History Review video below.

Poker Focus Session 2a

This was a profitable session, albeit pretty short at only 30 minutes and 50 hands.  I played well and took down lots of pots post-flop w/ standard cbets on boards that were pretty hard to hit.

I wasn’t so concerned with my opponents when I was opening, just with the hand strength.  You can see that I opened some pretty vulnerable hands, but due to the weak passivity of my opponents I was able to make these profitable.

Most of my winnings came from one player just going ballistic w/2nd pair weak kicker, but the only reason I was in that hand was b/c I was experimenting w/opening a wider range.  Would I normally open Q2s?  No way, but when you’re up against the right opponents some hands that have very little post-flop playability are totally worth playing.

Hand History Review Session 2b

I found one glaring mistake when I failed to cbet in position (IP) vs a weak player who folds too often to cbets.  This should’ve been a no-brainer cbet, but I overlooked it.

There was also another spot when I opened w/99 and faced a 3bet squeeze.  Depending on the range I give this player (who could’ve been tilting off his stack w/22 or A4s for all I knew), this could’ve been a profitable call.  It’s kind of a toss up as whether to call or now as he could’ve been using his LAG and tilty image to value shove.

If you felt this was a mistake, please let me know why in the comments below as maybe you’re seeing something that I’m missing.  Let’s help each other out!

What other videos would you like to see?  Please check out my YouTube Channel for more videos from me.

I hope these videos inspire you to create your own Poker Focus Session videos.

Until next time, study smart, play hard and make your next session the best one yet!

Poker Focus Session #1 – Opening Hands

By Sky Matsuhashi on November 13, 2015

poker opening hands

poker opening handsLast night I played a short 5NL cash session focused on opening hands online w/ a SmartPokerStudy.com reader w/ the screen name rocrivers.  Super cool guy, but I can only imagine now that he thinks I’m a crazy LAG donk b/c of the style I was playing.

Over 296 hands last night I was playing a 41/31 game.  YIKES!!!  That’s obviously not normal, and not anywhere near optimal or even sustainable.

The reason I played this way was b/c this week I’m studying poker openings.  If you’ve ever read any of Tim Ferris’ works you know that he talks about the Minimum Effective Dose, or MED.  This is the smallest amount that you can do that will yield the maximum benefit.

One of the MED’s that’s worth devoting study time to is poker openings.  Opening, or raising when first to act or even over a limper or two, is one of the most common plays we make in poker.  Almost every hand we get the chance to raise it pre-flop, so knowing this play inside and out should greatly increase our overall skill level.

I’ll post an article or two and a few podcasts on this topic soon, but for now, here’s the Focus Session video I made while playing with rocrivers last night.

Focus Session w/Emphasis on Opening Hands

My intent w/recording and posting these videos is so that I can see the progress I make in how I view and think about each topic.  Hopefully, after studying opening daily for a week, my thoughts on the topic will be more concise and I’ll be able to relay them to my audience better so everyone can learn something from them.

If you record your own Poker Focus sessions, I’d love to see one.  Email me (Sky@SmartPokerStudy.com) a link to it in YouTube or in Dropbox and I’ll give it a watch and share with you my thoughts.

Also, if you play on ACR or Carbon, let me know as I’d love to play a few sessions with you as well ?.  Just send me your screen name and your normal times and stakes played, and I’ll jump in on a few of your tables.

Please let me know what you think of it in the comments below, and check out my other videos on YouTube.

Until next time, study smart, play hard and make your next session the best one yet!

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