About This Book............................................................................................................................ 1
Part Zero: Range-Oriented Thinking......................................................................................... 3
Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 4
Range Structure..................................................................................................................... 7
Polarized Ranges..................................................................................................... 12
Playing with a Weak Polarized Range......................................................... 17
Exploiting Polarized Ranges........................................................................ 19
Range Balance......................................................................................................... 26
Part One: Pre-Flop Play in Unraised Pots................................................................................ 32
Introduction........................................................................................................................ 33
Un-Opened Pots Pre-Flop................................................................................................... 34
Limping In.............................................................................................................. 34
Raise or Fold?......................................................................................................... 37
Stealing the Blinds................................................................................................... 39
Playing Versus Short-Stackers............................................................................................. 43
What is Short-Stacking........................................................................................... 43
A Short Stacker’s Strategy...................................................................................... 45
General Adjustments............................................................................................... 46
Three-Betting Short-Stackers.................................................................................. 47
Optimal Play.......................................................................................................... 49
Nash Equilibria............................................................................................ 50
Equilibria in Poker...................................................................................... 53
Exploitative Play.................................................................................................... 57
Calling All-Ins............................................................................................. 58
Re-Raising Opens........................................................................................ 60
Post-Flop Play Against Short-Stackers.................................................................... 62
Putting in the Last Raise............................................................................. 62
Playing Made Hands.................................................................................... 63
Playing Draws............................................................................................. 67
Playing Air................................................................................................. 70
Charts for Small Blind versus Big Blind Situations.................................................... 74
Charts for Three-Player Blind Stealing Situations.................................................... 76
Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 82
Adjusting for Deeper Stacks................................................................................................ 84
Part Two: Post-Flop Play in Single-Raised Pots....................................................................... 91
Hand-Reading...................................................................................................................... 92
Card Combinatorics............................................................................................................. 94
Simple Permutations............................................................................................... 94
Accounting for Card Removal................................................................................. 96
Calculating Probabilities Based on Combinations..................................................... 98
Board Texture................................................................................................................... 100
Different Types of Boards.................................................................................... 100
Analysis of Several Flops...................................................................................... 101
Bet Size and the Cost of Bluffing............................................................... 107
Continuation Betting........................................................................................................ 110
Evaluating Whether or Not to Continuation-Bet.................................................. 111
Small Blind................................................................................................ 112
Big Blind................................................................................................... 114
Calculating the Profitability of a Continuation-Bet................................... 116
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 118
The Impact of a Turn Card............................................................................................... 120
Perceived Ranges.............................................................................................................. 123
Manipulating Your Perceived Range...................................................................... 126
Perceived Ranges and Your Ability to Value-Bet................................................... 128
Importance of Different Types of Ranges............................................................. 132
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 133
Responding to an Unexpected Action............................................................................... 135
Part Four: Playing with Weaker Players............................................................................... 146
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 147
Recognizing Weaker Players............................................................................................. 149
Direct Indicators................................................................................................... 149
Pre-Flop Play with Weaker Players.................................................................................. 153
The Isolation-Raise............................................................................................... 153
When the Fish Raises............................................................................................ 155
Post-Flop Play with Weaker Players................................................................................. 158
Bet Sizing.............................................................................................................. 158
Willingness to Fold............................................................................................... 167
Aggression............................................................................................................ 169
Changing our Bluffing Frequency............................................................... 170
Changing our Slow-Playing Frequency....................................................... 173
Tightening Up Pre-Flop............................................................................ 173
Hand-Reading........................................................................................................ 173
Fancy-Play Syndrome........................................................................................... 180
Part Five: Three-Bet Pots.......................................................................................................... 182
Playing Raised Pots: Three-Betting and Cold-Calling........................................................ 183
Dealing with Getting Three-Bet............................................................................ 184
Getting Three-Bet Out of Position............................................................ 185
Getting Three-Bet in Position................................................................... 189
Three-Betting and Cold-Calling............................................................................. 192
Three-Betting and Cold-Calling in Position............................................... 192
Three-Betting Out of Position/Blind Defense............................................ 196
Post-Flop Play in Three-Bet Pots..................................................................................... 201
Having Position in Three-Bet Pots....................................................................... 201
Being the Caller........................................................................................ 201
Being the Aggressor.................................................................................. 209
Being Out of Position in Three-Bet Pots.............................................................. 212
The Squeeze-Play.............................................................................................................. 221
Being the Squeezer................................................................................................ 222
Getting Squeezed................................................................................................... 223
Part Six: Miscellaneous Topics................................................................................................ 226
Image.. 227
Manipulating Your Short-Term Image.................................................................. 227
Optimal Bluffing............................................................................................................... 230
A Simple Bluff...................................................................................................... 232
A More Realistic Example.................................................................................... 237
Playing Near-Equilibrium Strategies....................................................................... 242
Reads and History............................................................................................................. 245
Adjusting Our Strategy to Our Reads...................................................................... 246
The Value of Reads............................................................................................... 247
Playing Online.................................................................................................................. 251
Tracking Programs and HUDs............................................................................... 251
Heads-Up Displays.................................................................................... 252
Multi-Tabling........................................................................................................ 254
Table-Selection..................................................................................................... 255
Rakeback and Loyalty Programs........................................................................... 256
Security................................................................................................................. 257
Securing Your Computer........................................................................... 257
Win-Rate, Variance and Bankroll Requirements................................................................ 266
Win-Rate.............................................................................................................. 266
Variance................................................................................................................ 267
Combining Win-Rates and Variance...................................................................... 269
Rakeback.................................................................................................. 271
All-In Adjusted EV................................................................................................ 271
The Myth of the Red Line.................................................................................... 274
Bankroll Requirements.......................................................................................... 276
The Path to Success.......................................................................................................... 278
Part Seven: Exercises................................................................................................................ 280
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 281
Hand Reading Exercises..................................................................................................... 282
Combinatorics Exercises................................................................................................... 284
Range Structure Exercises.................................................................................................. 286
Optimal Bluffing Exercises................................................................................................ 288
Answers............................................................................................................................ 290
Answers to the Hand Reading Exercises................................................................. 290
Answers to the Combinatorics Exercises............................................................... 294
Answers to the Range Structure Exercises.............................................................. 296
Answers to the Optimal Bluffing Exercises............................................................ 301
Appendix A: Glossary............................................................................................................... 307
Appendix B: Hand Ranges Ordered by Strength................................................................... 311
