What is ABC Poker?

JTheViper

I hear a lot of people talking about ABC poker. What do you consider ABC poker.

I think what is needed in this forum is a rough guide to ABC poker pre-flop and post flop.

Pre-flop would be fairly obvious eg what to raise with and what to limp with in what position and what to call a raise with. (based on standard types of players. lose/tight)

Post flop( this is the area that I need to expand my knowledge on)
How far to go with TPTK
what you should use as a minimum to go to showdown with. 2pair if the board has 3 to a straight/flush.
What to do if you have bottom pair/middle pair.
and any other suggestions

(I have just passed 15,000 hands and have made 2 bb/100 hands which is not good enough in my opinion.)

If there is a thread on this already, Im sorry.

Thanks.

captainkeg

what exactly does TPTK stand for?

Goodluck2me

Top pair with top kicker eg K29 flop you have AK....

willis

when i think of players playing abc i think of players who dont make many moves(ie they play their cards for what they are). They rarely steal,they rarely bluff, and when they raise they usually have a good hand. They dont semi-bluff and just call with big draws and rarely slowplay. Just my 2cents

RoundTower

JTheViper wrote:

How far to go with TPTK
what you should use as a minimum to go to showdown with. 2pair if the board has 3 to a straight/flush.
What to do if you have bottom pair/middle pair.

This should help you with the basics.

Hectorjelly

JTheViper wrote:

(I have just passed 15,000 hands and have made 2 bb/100 hands which is not good enough in my opinion.)

thats not too bad at all. Obviously you can do better but for a relative beginner id be happy with myself with that.

The C Kid

RoundTower wrote:

This should help you with the basics.

This makes me laugh everytime.

califano

Hectorjelly wrote:

for a relative beginner id be happy with myself with that.

Relative beginner online maybe but i believe JTheViper was regarded by most as poker.ie's best player at the last anglers rest team event and is a more experienced live player.

JTheViper

You have a good memory rounders. I can say that your half right.( I rarely play live apart from that team tourney and some cash games in the fitz.)

I have been playing for about a year and a half but I was playing only STT's up until 2 months ago when I started playing cash games. I think there is more money to be made from cash games.Well I did until the whole 2bb/100 thing.

califano

Dont worry i never forgot that cocky young punk with the large shades;)

WP!

ionapaul

When I think of ABC poker I think of what is outlined in the two HOH books - anyone else see it this way?

5starpool

I am trying to mix in some (player) X and Y into my ABC game lately. As you say Paul, Harrington basically espouses correct poker, i.e. ABC.

There is nothing groundbreaking in his books at all, and to be honest nothing new was really revealed to me in them, it just validates a lot of ideas.

ABC poker can be fine for navigating to money stages in tournaments, but very few tournaments are ever won by people playing purely this style of poker.

Cianos

ABC is the best approach for playing against standard players. It means you play your big hands for value, fold your trash hands and dont bother thinking about trickery, deception etc. Take cheap draws when you can and dont build the pot too much with semi bluffs or bluffs that you are going to have to go deep for to have a chance at taking the pot.

+2bb/100 is a nice win rate after 15,000 hands Jonny. Keep it up

Atlas_IRL

sry but can someone expalin the theory behind 2bb/100 hands

peeko

Viper, can I ask you what level you are playing at and where?

I've just started to playing cash games also. I had an excellent start but the road downhill has been continuous. Over 7000 hands I have 1.24/100.

Imposter

Atlas_IRL wrote:

sry but can someone expalin the theory behind 2bb/100 hands

In limit poker it means you win 2 big bets per hundred hands on average (If level is 2/4 then blinds are 1/2 and BigBet = 4). In NL I think it's big blinds but i'm not 100% on that.

Hectorjelly

2PTBB/100 is 2 Poker tracker Big bets per 100 hands, which in nl is actually 4big blinds. (as its orginally a limit program, and the big bet in limit is twice the big blind).

So 2bb/100 is actually 1PTbb/100, for some reason everyone online uses PTBB.


Good summary Cianos