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Poker boom might start up again in the states.

Posted by: Travis Johnston  /  Category: Online

Representative Barney Frank’s proposed bill, H.R. 2267 – the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, just passed the House Finance Committee by a vote of 41-22.

According to the PPA, the bill establishes the licensing and regulatory framework for the U.S. to exercise control and oversight over Internet poker and other forms of Internet gaming.

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6 Handed Early Position starting hand range for Texas Hold’em

Posted by: Travis Johnston  /  Category: Cash Game, Strategy

A good hand range for a TAG in early position is about 20% in a 6-Max game.  The top 20% EV hands against 6 opponents are:

AA 0.707456 K10s 0.259716
KK 0.64395 A7s 0.25848
QQ 0.594566 KQ 0.239976
JJ 0.547406 A5s 0.236032
TT 0.496276 K9s 0.231862
99 0.4431 A6s 0.229542
88 0.376448 QJs 0.225438
Aks 0.358888 A9 0.220502
Aqs 0.343964 Q10s 0.21903
77 0.324566 KJ 0.21823
Ajs 0.320862 A4s 0.217778
A10s 0.318768 55 0.210848
AK 0.317822 A8 0.204896
AQ 0.29782 K10 0.202342
KQs 0.291052 A3s 0.19226
AJ 0.278578 A2s 0.19142
A9s 0.277054 K8s 0.189608
KJs 0.27639 A7 0.18732
A8s 0.269772 K7s 0.187034
66 0.26653 Q9s 0.184714
A10 0.265334 EV 0.29537

Although in theory this would be the best hands to start with in a 6 max game you would be out of position and this hand range has a couple of exploitable issues.

  • A vast majority of these hands contain a Ace or King and people will start re-raising him on any flop that does not contain such cards.
  • There are very few low cards in this range so on small flops people will bet him off his hand because it is unlikely to have hit him.

One needs to trade some of these higher 6 person EV hands for hands that hit the full range of flops harder so we can continue to c-bet which is very important in 6-max games.  I removing some of the Ace -Rag & King -Rag suited hands and replacing them with small pairs and suited connectors.

AA 0.707456 A10 0.265334
KK 0.64395 KQs 0.291052
QQ 0.594566 KJs 0.27639
JJ 0.547406 K10s 0.259716
TT 0.496276 K9s 0.231862
99 0.4431 KQ 0.239976
88 0.376448 KJ 0.21823
77 0.306347 QJs 0.225438
66 0.200129 Q10s 0.21903
55 0.128414 QJ 0.171036
44 0.070251 Q10 0.156116
33 0.02466 J10s 0.169886
22 -0.01642 J9s 0.150318
AKs 0.358888 T9s 0.106626
AQs 0.343964 98s 0.055718
AJs 0.320862 87s 0.008576
A10s 0.318768 76s -0.04099
A9s 0.277054 65s -0.07291
A8s 0.269772 54s -0.10523
AK 0.317822 43s -0.16428
AQ 0.29782 32s -0.2312
AJ 0.278578 EV 0.240726

This solution is pretty easy to remember and solves a # of problems:

  • Small pairs make sets which are such powerful hands that they play well out of position, one can go for check raise traps and make other moves which you can’t with weaker hands like just top pair against multiple opponents.
  • One’s range is not Ace or King dominated so you can continuation bet on low flops and people will learn to give him credit instead of just blindly re-raising.

Although the theoretical EV for the starting hand range has gone down .05 these starting hands have a lot more utility and one will see their pre and post flop frustration drop as well as their profits rise.

♣♥♦

Darkened Poker

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Why I am becoming a 6-max table convert

Posted by: Travis Johnston  /  Category: Online, Strategy

Since I came from live games I have had a sort of irrational fear of doing anything online that would hurt my live game.  This included things like using Huds, getting use to multi-tabling and losing my ability to focus on just one game.  Or playing 6-max games and heads up games and forgetting how to be patient in the full ring games.

Are these real issues?  I believe they can be as I make about 40% of my live money stacking online players that get way to aggressive for full ring games or can not seem to figure out who the nits are at the table without a HUD.

But recently I decided to spend some time learning short handed play as what often happens late at night is the live games start to break and you get short handed with people that are stuck on tilt.  This is a really great game but you have to know how to properly adjust to the short handed tilt infused aggression.

Plus fearing what might happen is irrational so I took the plunge.

Poker tracker stats for 6-max tables

6-Max Stats

It was a little rough for the first 5700 hands as I over adjusted to the aggression factor and became a bit of a pay off wizard.  But once I got that worked out my win rate was almost double my full ring game win rate.

Reasons why 6-max can have a much better win rate:

  1. Without the call fests created in 9 handed games you are so rarely up against sets and monster hands that you can shove for value with your over pairs and 2 pair hands rather than carefully value bet them.
  2. Re-raising to isolate the fish is cheaper and works a lot more often than in 9 handed games so your win rate is directly tied to your ability to out play them.
  3. Since everyone is forced to play more hands the fish are forced to make more mistakes and since there is less people to take advantage of them you get a bigger piece of the action.
  4. Since everything is more aggressive people tend to get numb to it so you do not have to get fancy to hide your hand strength, just value bet it all three streets.

Takes a little work to make sure your games do not bleed into one another but it is worth the effort as 6-Max is just straight up more fun and profitable to play.

♣♥♦

Darkened Poker

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Why is position so important in deep stack poker

Posted by: Travis Johnston  /  Category: Bluff, Strategy

Lots of poker books, video’s and web pages out there talk about how important it is to play only in position if your deep stacked.  But they never explain why it is so important and they rarely define what they even mean by deep stacked.

Define Stack Sizes:  The point in the hand at which you can be put to a tough decision given your stack size.

Pre Flop:  3x BB raise, if called => Pot 6x BB

Flop: 2/3 pot bet, if called the Pot  = 14x BB

  • instead of call if it was a pot size re-raise all in, stacks would need  to be 21x BB
  • Short Stack ~= 20x BB

Turn: 2/3 pot bet, if called the Pot = 32x BB

  • instead of call if it was a pot size re-raise all in, stacks would need  to be 49x BB
  • Med Stack ~= 50x BB

River: 2/3 pot bet, if called the pot =74x BB

  • instead of call if it was a pot size re-raise all in, stacks would need  to be 110x BB
  • Invested 37BB before you got the bad news.
  • Deep Stack >= 100x BB

Lets consider the case as shown above when you are in position.

River: Pot starts 32X BB, likely case he pushes a pot size bet or worst case he moves all in.

  • Invested 16BB before you got the bad news and have to make a decision.
  • If it is borderline to call the pot size raise it is only 32X BB

What position give us vs out of position:

  • To only have 1/2 as much money invested in the pot when we get told we are likely beat ( 16X vs 37X BB ).
  • The ability to check behind and play for a 1/2 size pot when we want pot control ( 32X BB vs 74X BB).
  • The ability to raise and play for > 2x larger pot when we have the nuts. ( 74X BB vs 148X BB )
  • The ability to see what everyone else is doing before we act.

These advantages are huge, if your playing your hands right your Big Blinds won per hand should be at least 3X greater from the button as is it from under the gun.

♣♥♦

Darkened Poker

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The Killer Jack

Posted by: Travis Johnston  /  Category: Online

For all the poker players that play the games all night till the sun comes up.

Jack Poker Card Vampire

Vampire Jack

Do not know were this image came from so I can not link it back and give credit, if anyone knows leave me a comment.

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