Dynamic Full Ring Poker

by James Sweeney

  Are there really implied odds?

  When we consider drawing we need to ask ourselves if there are really IO here. Often times, there aren’t massive IO. Maybe we only get paid when we improve and our opponent has a set. Maybe our opponent folds that set sometimes when we hit, in which case the value of our draw is relatively bad. Against players that are unlikely to pay off without the nuts, draws usually go down in value, unless the draw is super hidden (like a 75 on a 963). Against players that overvalue single pairs, regardless of how the board turns out, the value of draws goes way up.

  What are our improvement cards?

  So many players forget to think about what their improvement cards are when drawing. More importantly, is what do our improvement cards do to the board? Let’s look at a few situations:

  We have 66 on a 457 board. Our improvement cards, assuming we are behind, are any 3, 6, or 8. These cards all put 4 card straights on the board. Not many players, even total fish, are likely to pay off on that kind of board. So the value of our draw is pretty useless given we will be able to extract hardly anything extra if we improve.

  We have A♦9♦ on a J♦7♦5♣ board. Our improvement cards are any A or diamond. The A is a scare card which will probably give us the best hand, but won’t be great for getting paid off. Any diamond is usually good, but the K♦ and Q♦ could easily act as scare cards as well. We need to consider every improvement card to really evaluate the true value of our draw.

  We have 9♣8♣ on a 7♦6♦2♥ board. Our improvement cards are any T, 5, and possibly 9 or 8. All of these cards are relatively safe given the board texture, but we need to consider suits. Sometimes catching the T♦ or 5♦ will be bad. And sometimes catching TP will give us a second best hand. This isn’t to say that drawing here is bad, just that we need to be aware of how valuable our draws actually are when looking at future cards.

  Is there flexibility?

  Say we have 8♣7♣. We call a very tight UTG raise from the button and see a HU flop of A♣6♣3♥. UTG bets and we call. Here we have some flexibility. Let’s look at ranges (assuming UTG has a tight 88+/AK range PF, and CBs the entire range on this flop):

  88-KK = will probably c/f the turn. It might sometimes c/c, or improve and bet again, but overall this part of the range usually isn’t too willing to get involved in a large pot OOP. This is 69% of his range.

  AK/AA = very comfortable, even if the flush fills up. This is 31% of his range.

  Let’s assume that only AA and an improved set would bet the turn (about 10% of the time). This means he would be checking about 90% of the time (this assumes he checks AK and doesn’t bluff turns). If that be the case, then when he checks, only about 50% of his range would call a bet (assumes he never folds AK and only folds 88-KK half the time). This is a pretty worst case scenario, and we are still picking the pot up 45% of the time on the turn with a decent ROI. This didn’t even account for the times when we improve to our flush, just that we have bluff flexibility along with our draw value.

  These situations arise often. Just because we are drawing doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for other ways to add value to our hand. We can do that by bluffing later, semi-bluffing, picking up more outs, etc. We use reads on our opponent, their hand range versus the board texture, and the ways they tend to act on the turn and river.

  While draws can seem very tricky, often times they are relatively simple to play. By simply considering the texture, our opponent, and turn cards, we can usually come up with an optimal line. Remember though, that as IOs get lower and lower, we should usually consider giving up on draws earlier. We also need to consider if a raise on the flop is worthwhile. If we think a raise would often times face a 3-bet on the flop, then flatting our draws would usually keep the line simpler with non-shallow stack sizes. Also remember that drawing from OOP is usually a problematic endeavor. It will be very hard to take free cards, extract value, and minimize loss. So be cognizant of these factors when considering lines with draws.

  The Facing Of A Donk Bet

  Donk bets usually throw people off. They are odd, they break up the normal flow of a hand, and can be a bit confusing. But if we just ask ourselves some basic questions, we can usually get to a correct answer on how to handle these bets.

  Who donked?

  As always, we handle each opponent differently. If a tight player, who only donks sets, donks at us, we have an idea what he has. If an A-Fish donks at us, we can assign a much wider range of hands. Usually tight players donk the flop with very definitive hands (big draws, sets, two pairs, or single pairs in special situations), and loose players are more sporadic. If we notice that a reg is starting to donk more often into us, then we can consider floating/raising them more liberally, but again, that is a play that needs information to become valid.

  How did they donk?

  Did they donk into an MW pot? Did they donk in a HU pot? The tighter a player is and the more players in the pot, usually the stronger their hand is. Loose players of course don’t care as much; they just donk when they feel it is appropriate.

  What size did they use?

  Because we usually don’t have many reads on a player’s donking strategy, we need to infer strength from things like timing, board texture, and sizing. If a fish donks at us for pot, we can usually infer that he has something he deems as strong. This isn’t to say that a small bet is never a big hand, nor that a PSB is never a bluff, just that we don’t usually want to attack the big bet (for reasons of exposure, expected strength, etc). Unless we know that a player donks big with bluffs, we usually want to just give it respect (and take notes so we can more optimally handle the situation in the future).

  What kind of hand do we have?

  Because we are always IP when a player donks into us, we have more flexibility. But, our hand strength is still one of the major determinants of our actions facing a donk bet. Let’s review them by hand strength:

  Bluff. When we have a bluff hand we can always get away for cheap. We didn’t even have to risk a CB, which is nice (we would always rather outright lose to a donk than have to fold to a CR). When we have a bluff hand, we usually want to raise or fold. We can raise if we think they would fold enough, and we can fold if we think their donk range is too strong. We could also consider floating and stabbing the turn, but we usually want to only do this with information, as a donk range should usually be relatively strong (a fish donking a pair, or an A high board, etc.) and not as willing to fold on the turn

  Value. Value hands are the easiest. We can raise if we think they will continue enough of the time. Or we can flat if we think they are bluffing a lot and raise later in the hand. As a default, if we have a value hand, raising is just fine. But as we get more information about our opponent’s donk range, we can make more optimal plays.

  SDV. With SDV we usually shift our hand into the call or fold range. Say we raise AQ from MP, the SB calls and we see a HU flop of QJ4. If the SB donks, we should usually just call here. It is rare we will get action from worse hands if we raise, and a flat can induce worse hands to continue betting. We sometimes consider odd hands SDV in this situation. Say we steal with KQ, the SB calls, and the flop comes T94 and we face a ⅓ PSB. We have a good amount of equity here, are getting a good price, and thus we can call (especially considering that we have position and the added flexibility on the turn and river). We might occasionally fold a SDV hand, but usually only in bigger pots. Say the SB steals, we 3-bet QQ and he flats. The flop comes AT9 and he donks for pot. We probably won’t be able to get to SD cheaply or comfortably, so folding now is a very valid option.

  While annoying, facing donk bets is relatively simple. What do we know about their donking range and frequencies, and how does that relate to our hand and the board texture? Also, we shouldn’t get frustrated when opponents donk at us. For one, it saves us the bluff CB against a range that probably wasn’t going to fold often anyway. Two, when we have a hand it puts an extra bet in the pot. And three, we are in position! We h
ave the flexibility to make whatever plays we want and with more correct information.

  The Depth

  We already talked about depth in Chapter 14 with regards to SPR, but here are some additional considerations. When we think about our line in any hand, stack sizes greatly influence our line. Depth can make stacking off TPTK a great play or a disastrous play, and knowing when it is good or bad is imperative to our postflop success.

  Let’s first start talking about shorter stacked play. There are a few different shorter stack sizes that we tend to deal with:

  Short stackers

  These players have stacks sizes between 1 and 20bb on average. If they auto reload to this stack size, they often times have a strategy specifically designed for that depth.

  Cappers

  These players have stacks sizes around 40bbs. The good ones tend to be aggressive PF with their 3-betting and stack threatening, but the bad ones can be very sporadic. In a single raised pot the SPR on the flop can be very awkward.

  Auto donks

  These players have stack sizes around 60bbs. They tend to use the “auto buy-in” option on the poker client, hence the name. The SPR situations in single raised pots are a little deeper than pots with cappers, but they can still get awkward very quickly.

  The non-reloader

  These players have stack sizes around 80bbs. They tend not to reload after buying in for something deeper, and thus are usually not the toughest of opponents. The postflop play in single raised pots is usually similar to that of 100bb players, but we do allocate for a bit more mistake-proneness.

  It should be obvious that the shorter a stack size is, the less maneuverability we have postflop and the closer we are to commitment when playing a pot. It doesn’t mean that we abandon all reads and other information to make folds when we are behind, it just means that we need to proceed with caution when entering pots with these players. Because it takes fewer bets to get smaller stacks in the middle, we need to position ourselves to not threaten our own stacks with hands we don’t want to commit.

  Let’s look at an example. Say at 100NL we raise to $3 with AQ from MP and only the button calls us. He has 30bb left, making a roughly 4 SPR pot. The flop comes Q87 and we CB for $5. Let’s look at a few logical happenings:

  He raises to $15

  Any raise he makes effectively threatens his stack, which means that he shouldn’t be bluffing here. While some shorter stacks will raise/fold here, most are comfortable with their hand once they raise. At this point it just becomes a math problem. There are 6 combos of sets (3 of 88 and 3 of 77). If he has a Qx hand, there are 8 combos of each (so 8 combos of KQ, 8 of QJ, etc.). Because the combos of Qx type hands tend to so heavily out weigh his combos of hands that beat us, stacking off here is usually the standard thing to do.

  He shoves

  The same as a raise to $15 as both plays effectively commit his stack. The shove also has a tendency to be a bit bluffier as our opponent might do so in an effort to collect the big (relative to his stack size) pot.

  He calls

  If he calls it makes for a $17 pot on the turn with $25 left. We are effectively committed and just need to decide which line to take on the turn. If he tends to bet a lot when checked to, then we can check and commit when he bets. If he tends to make more calling mistakes, then we should bet again (something like $8 sets up river shoves nicely). If we are unsure, we can just default on betting to ensure that we get his stack every time (as the turn getting checked through makes getting stacks very difficult).

  We see that all options lead to getting our stack in the middle, and this would be true if the effective stacks were smaller as well.

  Things start to change, however, as the effective stacks get deeper. Say our opponent had 55bb left on the flop. At this point we might take a different line. We might check to induce sometimes, because the added depth of stack gives us more flexibility. Our default would usually be to CB for value, but facing the raise becomes a different story. Now we might start folding or calling versus the raise as the stacks get deeper and deeper. This is for a few reasons:

  More depth changes minimax

  The deeper the stacks are, the less we want to stack off single pairs. The shallower the stacks are, the more often we take TP and over pairs to the felt. Coupled with that, the deeper the stacks are the more we can lose when we are behind. If stacks are shallow, we can’t lose all that much more in a given hand. But as stacks get deeper, it can put us in a situation where we win very little when ahead, and can lose much more when we are behind.

  This is why we are always more likely to fold a TP type hand versus a flop raise from a full stacked player than a short stack player. The deeper stacks create situations where the mistake of creating too big of a pot can have dire consequences, but folding a little more often wouldn’t hurt us nearly as bad. We need to be cognizant of stack sizes as they can drastically change our plan in a hand. Everything from betting versus checking to stacking off versus folding is deeply effected by stack depth.

  More depth changes their ranges

  A player with more money should usually be given more respect than a player with less money as a default. A player who has an edge usually wants the most amount of money in front of them at all times. Because of this, as a player’s stack size gets smaller, we can usually assume they are more mistake-prone, which becomes very visible in their action and ranges, both preflop and postflop.

  For instance, a good player with a deeper stack will usually play a better range of hands preflop, both when open raising and when cold calling. Dumber players will tend to call too many hands preflop and also cold call hands that a better player would 3-bet or fold (like KJo, ATs, etc.). Good players also have an innate understanding of minimax and tend to take more SDV lines with hands like TP postflop. Dumber players tend to commit more liberally with things like TP, second pair, and draws. We need to keep this in mind as it changes both a bad player’s O-Range and C-Range in a very dramatic way.

  More depth changes our stack off ranges

  As stack sizes get deeper our average tendency is to stack off with a tighter and tighter range. Against a 300bb effective stack we might only stack off the literal nut, whereas we might stack off top pair with a medium kicker (TPMK) versus a 25bb effective stack. Because a raise from a deeper stacked opponent threatens more money, thus forcing us to have a bigger hand to normally continue, we want to be very selective with the hands that we continue with against them. However, against shorter stacked opponents, we tend to stack off TP and big draws much more liberally on the flop.

  It should also be noted that the shorter an opponent’s stack is, the more definitive of a plan we need to have. We have much less flexibility in the hand, and thus drawing or making more complicated plays is usually a poor decision. When betting or raising into these shorter stacks we need to know exactly what we are going to do when raised. Are we betting here because we want to stack off? Are we betting here as a bluff? If so, will he fold enough given his ranges? Is check/calling here an option? So long as we ask ourselves these questions, playing against these opponents becomes very simple.

  On the other side of the coin, we do sometimes play versus opponents with deeper stacks. Usually we just want to acknowledge that we have a lot more flexibility in these pots. We can consider running bigger bluff lines due to our opponent being relatively far from commitment. However, we need to understand that tighter players with big stacks tend to protect that stack for dear life. If they start getting very active in a very large pot, it might be time to consider making some hero folds.

  We tend to play against shorter stacks much more often than very deep stacked opponents. While SPR is important and can help us plan hands out, thinking about depth now and for the rest of the hand can make our lives easier. We want to always check what the effective stacks are and think about the pot sizes we are creating. If they are favorable, then we should make our play. If not, we should consider other lines. Overall, playi
ng for pure value against shorter stacks is great, and playing tightly against bigger effective stacks without big hands is great as well.

  The Future

  Once the flop action is over, and assuming we still have cards, we are half way done with our decision making! However, because of pot geometry, the decisions on the turn and river are incredibly important given how costly mistakes can be.

  As we get closer to showdown our hand strength becomes more and more absolute. Our hand strength shifts from semi-bluff to either a bluff or value/SDV. Our SDV hands might push closer towards bluffs (if the board gets really bad), value (if we improve), or even retain their SDV. Bluff hands might improve to SDV or value hands on occasion. And value hands can also get pushed towards SDV or bluff, again, totally dependent on how the board pans out and how our opponent reacts to it all.