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Blind vs Blind Hands
I’ve been working on some blind vs blind study lately, especially in limped pots. Like in heads up play, I think there is a strong incentive to call down lighter in these pots and I do think population tends to overbluff in these spots more than in others.
Here are 3 hands from yesterday that helped me significantly build a stack. So from a results perspective, these were great. But since I’m looking at these spots more closely, I want to make sure the decisions are sound regardless of results. If any of these goes awry, my tournament is pretty derailed or over.
Let me know what you think and how you’re approaching these three spots (I do recognize hand 3 isn’t technically BvB, but it is pretty darn close for these purposes).
I hope this video link works
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4 Replies
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The video link works great! This post reminds me of a couple comments I’ve heard in the last couple weeks from Bart Hansen and some other pros saying big bluffs are the new value bet and how people can show up with very light holdings making us have to call rivers lighter. I haven’t seen it live myself (but maybe I will if i start calling), but wonder if its a new trend since I’ve also seen similar hand reviews where you wonder if they are bluffing this, they must be using entire range.
On the first hand I love the defend pre with K6hh – we have a big card, suited, vs a wide range. I’d always defend the small c bet and the turn doesn’t seem to help a value range since its a low card, so I like the defend as well.
I think when v bets for a 3rd time to a large sizing is where I usually would fold without at least top pair – curious what would be the reasoning for calling on that street to a large size other than recent tendencies in the game. Were there any reads on this villain? Do we just think value doesn’t go for all the chips since we haven’t raised in previous streets?
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That was probably the most exploitive spot. I’d seen that player take very aggro river lines. The initial raise makes a lot of 8x less likely in my mind. If he has an 8, it seems like it is A8, K8s, or 88. That combined with the big river bet make most everything but the one combo of 88 seem unlikely (my impression is that a player like this with an 8 will go for smaller value or even check back when that club comes). So that means we’re just most up against some extreme value (clubs or 88) or nothing. Most of the club lines take this route, but my 6 is good against all the other hands that bet this big. There are 10-12 reasonable club value hands. But given that we saw this player be aggro a lot, there are a ton more bluffs. Frankly, when I won, I was expecting this player to have a single club in their hand. The fact that they had 4d2d speaks to how wide/aggro this player could be.
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Thanks for posting this video. I was very surprised by these three hands and the way they played out and the betting particularly with 24d… All three hands would be hands that I would not get involved in because I find that I lose most of my chips in the SB and defending the BB and I am trying to be more disciplined about what I defend with… In our game yesterday I saw a hand where the SB donked off his entire large stack against the other big stack by pushing all in SB with A7 and the BB had KK. It was a big game for points for a WSOP main event entry. A terrible mistake but these B v B can really be trouble spots. Strategy tips would be really helpful…
Also, different topic but wondering how the hands change if there is a late min raise before the BB. Do you call with K6 or J6H in the BB?
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You are definitely playing stakes where your opponents are playing the board against your range rather than their hand. All of these are tough call downs in a $3.30 tournament.
On the first hand (K6s), a lot of people still read a limp as weakness and attack. As long as your limping range is balanced, I think it is an easy call down, although the river is pinch your nose and jump in.
I find that when I limp the SB, people tend to over fold the 1BB cbet. I cbet 100% of flops when I limp SB and take it down too often.
I think this is what happened in the second hand. The flop was good for the preflop raiser so he cbet, then realized he limped, so represented a bad Ace. I think a lot of club draws would play this way, also. Good calls. I may have folded if the river completed the flush.I’m not sure if I could have made it to showdown with 3rd pair on the last hand without a read, but who doesn’t like winning with 72o?
All of these hands are great for your table image. When (if) your opponents see these showdowns, it makes them show you less aggression without some kind of value, which makes them easier to play against. Just hope your table doesn’t break so you can take advantage.
I understand why you asked about these. They were all important pots to win, yet it is easy to not be ahead. This is where reads and HUD stats can make a difference.
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