It really seems that Ace King creates more nightmares for players than any other hand. Today, we’ll explore a hand where AK flops top pair/top kicker that needs to decide whether or not to put it all-in. This spot was played in a live $1/$2 cash game and exemplifies how a results-oriented thought process can really lead players to second-guess SUPER +EV plays. Let’s check out the hand…
In today’s video, we’re going to review a hand sent in by Dan. This is a hand from $1/$3 live and Dan goes pretty aggressive with 86os. So let’s check out the hand and see if it was any good.
In this hand, we have a limp, a limp, a limp, and Dan decides to attack to $20. And Dan says this in the write-up:
Seat 7 through 9 in this game are very loose, somewhat aggressive players. They don’t seem to care about position or odds. They’re having fun, they like to gamble. They’re not passive players either. They like to and are comfortable making big bets with draws. Continue reading
Second pair is always tough. It’s pretty strong, it’s ahead quite often, but is it worth a bet? Should second pair always go into your check-behind and try to get to showdown range?
In this hand we’ll explore these questions through the lens of a single hand: King Queen on AQ3. Our hero, Alexander, ends up calling a 3bet and villain checks to him on this board. Much of the discussion is about the flop decision, since that sets the entire hand in motion. So let’s get into it and see what goes into making a strong decision with second pair…
Every poker player has leaks. Some are more obvious than others – but we all have them. Yes, even Phil Ivey has leaks in his game. He just leaks in more refined ways than the fishy calling station at your local card room.
A leak is an area in a poker players game that consistently leaves money on the table. Leaks can be aggressive or passive, but ultimately they are -EV plays that negatively impact a player’s winrate.
Today I want to discuss three of the most common leaks that I see today. These are issues that you can see at just about every table you sit down at. It doesn’t matter if you play cash games or tournaments, live or online.
If you pay attention, you’ll spot these leaks.
But the honest truth is that 98% of players who read this will have some-all of these leaks in their game. Maybe slightly, but they are there.
While reading this, think about the last time you made one of the mistakes. Think about the pots you’ve been giving up on due to these mistakes. And focus on ‘The Fix’ at the end of each leak for a clear way to patch that leak using my new course The One Percent.
Let’s get patching… Continue reading
After months of hard work, my new course The One Percent is finally available! This course has one goal in mind – to arm you with a complete strategy that you can use in any game.
The One Percent takes a frequency-first approach to the game, which may sound scary at first glance, but it’s how the best players visualize and attack poker. This complete series is a companion to the popular book “Poker’s 1%” by Ed Miller, who gave me permission to turn his work into a video series that doesn’t just rehash the content, rather it expands and explains all the subtleties that get lost in the original work.
By the end of this course, you will have a crystal-clear idea of things like:
- How often you should barrel (even when you totally miss the flop)
- How the best players in the game THINK about poker (hint: flopping 2pair+ is NOT the goal)
- What percentage of your turn ranges should be bluffs
- How to protect your ranges and avoid getting run over by tough players
- How to internalize these concepts so you can actually USE them at the tables
The goal is not just to flood your brain with the right poker theory. The goal is to help you understand the theory, build a model, AND practice it so you can apply it properly in real-time.
Wondering what is covered? Here is the entire video list for The One Percent… Continue reading
Folding is the least sexy topic in poker. Folding is just so…final. Your cards hit the muck, you concede the pot to your opponent, and you’re off to the next hand.
But the honest truth is that poker players fall into two main categories:
1. Players that fold far too often
2. Players that fold far too rarely
There is a third type of player though. A rare-breed of player that folds a correct amount of the time and keeps their continuance frequency right on track.
That’s the kind of player I want you to become. Continue reading
Can you ever correctly fold a straight? Sure the board is paired, but with no flushes possible it’s tough to make this tight of a fold. In this hand, we’ll review a hand sent in by Josh who played an interesting hand at $2/$5 live. After isolating from the button with 98o, Josh improves to a straight on the turn and ends up raise/folding on the river. Let’s see if that this fold was solid – or too nitty. Continue reading
My goal, when I started creating these workbooks, was to help players like you develop your hand reading skill set through guided exercises. To help you work through the same repetitions that I did when I was growing as a player. To help you explore the spots that impact your win rate in every session. And to layout your poker study so that you always know what to work on.
Today’s hand was sent in by Ralph. This is a hand from 2NL with a 1 cent ante. Action begins with Don who opens under the gun for 3 big blinds and hero decides to 3bet and Don calls.
In his write-up, Ralph says this: Done was a 30/10 over a small sample size of 10 hands, and Ralph made the assumption that Don was going to be pretty fishy. Let’s start with that assumption first. Like Ralph said the ten hands is a “pretty darn small sample size,” so I don’t really want to say that this person is for sure going to be pretty fishy yet. We simply can’t glean much from the 30/10 HUD stats. Now, if this person were playing 100/10 over 10 hands, yeah, very unlikely that he got 10 playable hands, 10 hands in a row. Continue reading
Ace King is a tricky hand, and even more so when you are deciding when and how to get it all-in preflop. Awhile back I created this quiz to test your knowledge of AK and the lines you’d take with it when facing committing decisions preflop. In this video I breakdown the answers of thousands of poker players, share the correct answers, and walk you through the decision matrix when choosing your plays with Ace King!
If you haven’t already, please take the quiz before reading any further, that way you’ll understand me more and will be able to check your answers. Continue reading