One of my greatest frustrations with poker training is how\noverly complex it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m guilty of this as well. If you watch my early training videos, I was needlessly detailed. Like a kid talking about his favorite toy, I would go through each poker stat<\/a> on my HUD that I could use on any particular play. I loved talking about what each number could possibly mean, and how that could be used to uncover a sneaky bluff or thin value bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem I ran into is that the vast majority of my\nviewing audience didn\u2019t have 40-60 hours a week to study poker. They couldn\u2019t\ntrain to combine five numbers at a clip to make an exact read. They found the\nvideos fun to watch, but it wasn\u2019t translating into results.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHere’s what you need to know:<\/b><\/font>\n Our problem in poker coaching, and this goes for content creators like myself and students, is we\u2019re all trying to be perfect all the time. This is hilarious because Texas Hold\u2019em<\/a> is popular precisely because it is such a mess. It gives anyone a shot at winning at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We need to focus on some quick rules that can help us get serious results. Perfect ranges<\/a> and exact reads are perfect for engineers and statisticians, but the rest of us are human. What can we do to rapidly improve our game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The truth is, when I am playing No-Limit Hold\u2019em, I know many of the advanced strategies but I\u2019m using gross simplifications half the time. They get to the crux of the matter, and (especially live) they get me making money quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One great rule of thumb is to find guys and gals who will fold their high cards. <\/strong>This opens up a wide range of exploitation options. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whenever I get to a table, I watch all the poker hands<\/a>, asking myself, \u201cWho can fold pairs? Who can fold high cards?\u201d In the next article, we\u2019ll discuss how to identify and exploit players who can fold pairs, but for this article, we will focus primarily on high-card folders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, they\u2019re extremely likely to fold on the flop. You\u2019ll see them get involved but then fold postflop. You\u2019ll see them cold call, miss the flop, and fold. You\u2019ll see them raise, continuation bet the flop<\/a>, and check\/fold the turn. They\u2019re the norm in poker, not the exception.<\/strong> They don\u2019t want to put in big bets without at least a pair, and they tend to get into habits when they do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pay attention to each person. They call out of the big\nblind. Do they give up on the flop? <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you see a guy call on a flop like J-2-2 and then easily\nfold to a turn bet, you might think you didn\u2019t get anything from that because\nthere wasn\u2019t a showdown, but that\u2019s not true. What we just saw is this guy\nisn\u2019t as \u201chit-or-miss\u201d as others. This is the type of guy who might peel with\nK-10 to see what the turn brings. If he easily folded on that flop we would\nhave the guy in a more \u201cfit or fold\u201d typology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you watch a few orbits, seeing everyone playing from different poker positions, and you know who just likes to fold their high cards, that\u2019s when it\u2019s time to come out of hiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want to isolate these people as much as possible\nheads-up and get them folding postflop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The glorious thing about poker these days is people will flat your three-bets with just about anything. If you find a player who also loves to fold when they miss the board, you\u2019re in serious business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average range misses the average flop. It\u2019s hard to connect two cards with three. Video game companies spend millions of dollars testing certain games to ensure they\u2019re balanced. No-limit hold \u2019em was invented by road gamblers who wanted to play for some serious money. It was probably invented because everyone got sick of dealing with 5 Card Stud<\/a>. It\u2019s a fundamentally imbalanced game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your chosen victim opened or limped more than 15% of the hands, they\u2019re in real trouble. Unless the board comes with two cards, nine or higher (people love limping\/raising with mostly high cards), then it\u2019s likely your opponent missed. Even on that treacherous board, you can try a very small bet. It\u2019s a scary board for them as well if they missed. It won\u2019t take much to blow them off the pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can pad your chip count early in tournaments by identifying these targets and mercilessly going after them: 3-bet, c-bet, isolation raise, c-bet, a couple of big blinds at a time, sometimes eight or so when they flat you out of position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, what this is going to do is piss everybody at the table off. In Brazil or Denmark, people are cool with bluffers. They know it is part of the game. In North America or Western Europe, it\u2019s frowned upon. You\u2019re ruining everybody else\u2019s fun! We were playing \u201clet\u2019s all see the flop and go from there!\u201d They all turn into Greta Thunberg screaming \u201chow dare you?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, what you\u2019re doing is quite logical. You picked your targets with deliberation. When you isolate them in position, you\u2019ll have a number of advantages.<\/strong> When you miss on a particularly bad board you can check back. You will get a four-card flop. They will get three. When you both miss, you\u2019ll likely pick up the pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you hit your hand, you will be deciding how big the pot gets. You have three streets to work. Your opponent doesn\u2019t have the option to just bring you both to the turn card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because you\u2019re raising the stakes when you know you will win, you\u2019re going to be playing bigger pots than everyone else in the tournament. For this reason, you can expect a lot of early exits. This isn\u2019t a bad thing, though. Have you ever played a tournament<\/a> series where you consistently kept making day twos you couldn\u2019t cash in on? After nine days, you\u2019re just obliterated. There\u2019s nothing left in the tank, and you\u2019ve got nothing to show for it. Screw that. At least with my method, you\u2019ll have plenty of time to see the sights in whatever city you\u2019re in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once people get pissed off with you, they\u2019ll also start calling down more with their pairs.<\/strong> Once they hit something, they will be hard-pressed to fold versus you. They\u2019ve been waiting to get back at you for all your stupid aggression! Do you think they\u2019re going to fold now? <\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, when you flop a particularly good top\npair\u2026you have to go for broke. They\u2019re likely calling you down with any good\npair. It\u2019s time to get your money\u2019s worth. Show people you can run with the\nball too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, they\u2019ll river something. It sucks. It will leave you gutted. The players at the table will chortle. Get over it. If they were so good at poker, they wouldn\u2019t be playing low-to-mid stakes with you. No one wants to admit they\u2019re learning and they could possibly be wrong. That plays to your benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you get the kill shot in, the game is yours. You can really beef up that three-bet frequency and start chopping people out. They saw you had it once and you took a guy out with the hand. They\u2019re done with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n People always ask me, \u201chow do I take over the bubble? How can I run the table?\u201d My answer is always, \u201cyou missed your moment two days ago. It\u2019s too late. You have 40X? You gotta work on the fringes like everyone else.\u201d The idea and best poker strategy<\/a> here is to have 70X when everyone else has 30-40X. Because now, you can take over the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your checkraises, your three-bets, your double barrels, all of them will threaten your opponent\u2019s entire stack. Now you can work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s not going to happen unless you can identify who is folding when they miss the board. It\u2019s not going to happen if you don\u2019t get out of your shell in the initial stages and face a few early exits. I hope these tips have been beneficial to you and your game. Good luck to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nFocus on One Quick Rule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How Can We Identify Who Is Folding High Cards?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Now, Isolate Them<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You’re Going to Piss Off a Lot of People<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
That’s How You Run the Table<\/h2>\n\n\n\n