The Poker Player With 2 Faces!

I wanted to talk a little about the 2 poker players you need to be to succeed.

The first type is they type that understands how to play versus regs. Which encompasses GTO, being aware of our preflop image, minimum defence frequencies, and generally being completely balanced until we pick up on something in their game which is a leak. We then can adjust the equilibrium accordingly.

The second is our ability to play using environmental tendencies, taking advantage of hand reading to dictate sizing and making exploitable bets/calls/bluffs. This is how poker players played prior to the GTO insertion in the industry. Nowadays this is used vs fish.

The reason i feel this topic is interesting is most players still tend to use one too much or maybe even just one.

I have attached a hand from one of my students that i recently reviewed. The interesting thing about this hand is was approached from a completely exploitable point of view, which allowed the student to think about hand reading and combinatrix to work out the amount of combos and then make a decision.

The funny thing about this hand is that we get to similar conclusions using both methods, but the exploitable methods lets him make some calls even when he holds a spade and a straight draw blocker(essentially folds by GTO since we block too many bluffs) if he still believes the amount of bluffs is sufficient.

I do lots of hand breakdowns on this blog and this isn't the purpose here(although i'm happy to do that in future if needs be.) By not being so rigid in his approach to this situation and similar hands he gives himself multiple methods to approach poker play. The benefits are many, by using both he can compare lines and work out which has a higher $EV, he can view hands from different player types clearer and lastly he will always have more room for creativity in his game if and when needs be.

***** Hand History for Game 1111111111 ***** (IPoker)
$60.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, March 19, 12:05:25 ET 2019
Table 12601362667 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 10: Player10 ( $67.67 USD ) - VPIP: 39, PFR: 9, 3B: 2, AF: 1.5, Hands: 1676
Seat 1: Player1 ( $36.36 USD ) - VPIP: 42, PFR: 14, 3B: 5, AF: 1.5, Hands: 250
Seat 3: Player3 ( $9.00 USD ) - VPIP: 28, PFR: 4, 3B: 0, AF: 1.9, Hands: 156
Seat 5: Hero ( $81.03 USD ) - VPIP: 26, PFR: 18, 3B: 6, AF: 2.4, Hands: 2804
Seat 6: Player6 ( $37.42 USD ) - VPIP: 45, PFR: 11, 3B: 5, AF: 2.0, Hands: 1518
Seat 8: Player8 ( $148.36 USD ) - VPIP: 36, PFR: 23, 3B: 10, AF: 1.2, Hands: 677
Hero posts small blind [$0.30 USD].
Player6 posts big blind [$0.60 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [  8h Qs ]
Player8 folds
Player10 folds
Player1 folds
Player3 calls [$0.60 USD]
Hero calls [$0.30 USD]
Player6 checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2c, Ts, Qh ]
Hero bets [$0.90 USD]
Player6 calls [$0.90 USD]
Player3 calls [$0.90 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]
Hero checks
Player6 bets [$2.25 USD]
Player3 calls [$2.25 USD]
Hero calls [$2.25 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
Hero checks
Player6 bets [$5.62 USD]
Player3 folds
Hero calls [$5.62 USD]
Hero wins $20.77 USD from main pot
Player6 shows [9c, 9d ]

I hope you enjoyed the read, and hopefully it gets you thinking differently going forward.

I currently have a couple of spaces for coaching, where not only will i teach you GTO methods but also thinking for yourself and developing environmental and situational reads.

Message me for a free consultation - https://www.facebook.com/BenMachineSmith/

Good Luck :)