Full Tilt Pro Advice

dvdfan

Just quoted a section from the full tilt newsletter where a pro gives some advice. There usually pretty standard but some good advice too.

Anyway as youll see below hes on about manipulating the pot to keep it small when youve an average hand and keep it big when youve a monster hand. Again pretty standard stuff but the following example he gives when holding aces seems overly conservative, so just wondering what your opinions are:

He says if someone calls a 3/4 pot bet on the flop when your holding aces and the flop come J-6-3 rainbow, that although they might have top pair they might have a set and so if they check the turn then you should check too to avoid the checkraise and keep the pot small. Surely with this disguised hand you want to making a big pot but not neccisseraly going broke. Should you not be betting into him again on the turn and then checking the river if he checks the river too. Checking the turn would indicate weakness and invite a semi bluff on the river and then you wouldnt know where you stood.

Whats your opinions how would you play this??

Pro Tip: 88
Pot-Size Manipulation
Gavin Smith
Nov 30, 2006

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One of the key skills that winning big-bet players bring to the table is the ability to manipulate the size of the pot. They manage to play big pots when they have big hands, and keep the pot smaller when their holdings are more modest. If you think carefully about your betting throughout a hand, you can set yourself up to play a pot that's appropriate for the strength of your hand.

For starters, let's look at a hand that gets a lot of players in trouble - a big pocket pair. Generally, with any one pair, you should be looking to play a medium-sized pot. Of course, you're happy enough to get all of your money in pre-flop with Aces, but beyond that, you should try to avoid playing huge pots with any one pair. Here's an example of how you might manage the size of the pot while holding Aces.

Say that you raise pre-flop with pocket Aces and you're called by the big blind. The flop comes down J-6-3 rainbow, and the blind checks to you. You bet three-quarters of the pot and the big blind calls.

At this point, you can assume your opponent has some kind of hand. Maybe he has a pocket pair or he hit top pair on the flop. The other possibility is that he hit a set on the flop and you're in very bad shape. Given these likely hands, I think that checking behind your opponent if he checks to you on the turn is the best play. You avoid the possibility of losing a monster if you're check-raised by a set. And if he does have a pair, you're not giving away a whole lot of value by giving the free card. He may have two or five outs, which makes him a pretty big dog.

When you check the turn, you do so with the plan of calling a reasonable bet on the river. And if he checks to you on the river, you can put in a small value bet. At that point, your hand would be pretty well disguised, so he is likely to pay you off if he has anything at all.

So in this case, keeping the pot small will get you pretty good value when you're ahead and help you avoid disaster when you're behind.

Lazare

This advice all depends on the type of opponent, I mean, advocating slowing down at all times when your flop bet is called is ridiculous.

What if your opponent caught a small piece of the flop and is putting you on a cont bet with a missed AK, AQ,?

What if he's the type of player who'll check call all the way with top pair?

Against a good player you should slow down, but advising to slow down in all situations is bad advice.

Most full tilt tips are either bull**** or standard stuff tbh.


Oh, and you can't semi bluff the river.

dvdfan

Lazare wrote:

Oh, and you can't semi bluff the river.

What i mean is he might have Jk for instance and put in a huge bet representing trips or a monster after i showed weakness on the turn, so whatever the correct term is for that...im still trying to get to grips with all this poker lingo:) I only found out yesterday theres a difference between a set and trips:o

bohsman

Ill often check behind on the turn knowing that the bad guy practically has to bluff the river

Lazare

dvdfan wrote:

What i mean is he might have Jk for instance and put in a huge bet representing trips or a monster after i showed weakness on the turn, so whatever the correct term is for that...im still trying to get to grips with all this poker lingo:) I only found out yesterday theres a difference between a set and trips:o

The only reason you should show weakness on the turn is if you feel you can induce such a bluff. You have to have position.

I would rarely slow down at all though.

Gholimoli

Lazare wrote:

The only reason you should show weakness on the turn is if you feel you can induce such a bluff. You have to have position.

I would rarely slow down at all though.

rarely slowing down is a recipe for disaster against good players.

Lazare

Gholimoli wrote:

rarely slowing down is a recipe for disaster against good players.

True, check out my first post.
The majority of times your up against average opponents though.

Scotty #

My move here depends 100% on my opponent.

OFF TOPIC: I got the "FullTilt - Learn from the Pros" series from "the cousins" the other night, I'd seen a few minutes of it on Bravo the weekend and it looked good. I found it to be...erm.... not very good. Apart from anything else, in each 22 minute episode there's only about 6 mins of tuition. In the first episode their talking about a hand where Negrano pushes. The usual stats are on the screen when we know the players whole cards. The commentator says Negrano is correct to push as "he knows" he's 49% if he gets a call???? In the 2nd episode, about bluffing, Layne Flack says "most of the time when I bluff - I'm ahead" This is met with a look of bewilderment from the other pros then Phil Iveys says laughing, "well when I bluff I KNOW I have the worst hand"

can anybody recommend a good poker dvd tutorial??