Lab 2.o - Range Betting Basics & Turn Barreling Concepts

Flop Play 

(AKA why we love range betting)

** simple flop (& turn) strat = we can spend more time studying turns and rivers !

good boards to RB:

• connect with lots of our range (hits the offsuit region)
• no str8 possible
• not mono

Turn Play 

How to structure our betting range:

• Value
• Equity bluffs
• Concept: Higher equity draws should barrel more than lower equity draws (!)
• i.e. weaker draws more fit for protecting our checking range !
• TODO in-game: try to consciously x-back your weakest SD/ FD to get a feel for it
• Future bluffs / blocker bluffs:
• KTss3h 6c, hands like 
• As4c (obv nut flush blocker on FD complete rivers
• ! but also a hand like Q5dd - where we block the SD complete rivers (!)
• can bluff on any 9, J, A

Bet sizing:

• Gary: Generally on paired boards I won’t ever use an overbet size, it’s just the 75% size on the turn. We’ve spoken mainly about using 75% for most of our bets and then 133% for complete brick turns like K823 or JT25. You can kind of build your turn strategy around using only these two sizes and end up with a very profitable yet easy-to-play sizing scheme for all turn barrels in single raised pots.

• A lot of listeners might have different sizes that they bet for different hand strengths. And it’s really important that we break that habit. Let’s use a K-8-9-2 board as an example. A lot of us, if we have bottom set, will be happy to use an overbet. But then when we have JT, T7 or a flush draw, we might bet 75%. You make yourself a much tougher opponent by working out what size your RANGE wants to bet, and then using that size for your entire betting range."

"one more thing - when the turn is really good for your range, and you get to bet super wide with value/blocker bluffs/equity bluffs and even some complete airballs. For example, say we open the button and the big blind calls and the flop is 872. We’ll use a large c-bet here, so when we do, our opponent will NOT float us with a hand like QJ. (we have most of the air, they don't)

So that means on a turn Q, for example, the turn is so good for us that we get to bet a bunch of our air as well. Be on the lookout for spots where the turn is really good for you and like all parts of poker you get to bet super wide as a result of that turn being so good for you!"

more here on turn barreling:

https://upswingpoker.com/podcast/ep8-double-barreling/

Specific examples:

QT3ss (after rb flop, ip has most of their air, while oop folded most air and raised most nutted hands)

Turn plan:

• Bricks (2, 4-7)
• ip: low equity due to lots of air still in range, but keeps nut advantage = when these conditions are met, solver almost always favours heavy overbet / check strat
• no trapping - trapping is reserved for boards where your range can't improve the currents nuts (!)  e.g. FD complete turns
• Value hands strat:
• figuring out where the threshold is - e.g how thin can we VB:
• heuristics: consider the best TP oop can have - in this case some KQ, all QJ -> if your TP is equal in strength to that, you can usually pure overbet it
• SD hands strat
• pairs which check
• advanced concept (high-hanging fruit): value-bluffing with 5x (mix of combo w fd and without (A5, K5 - can get called by worse 5x). oop should fold better, but also continue with draws like KJ, AJ, A3s
• unpaired hands (ordered by equity)
• combo draws - always bet
• normal FD - bet the best ones the most
• Overcards (A,K)
• ip: linear advantage in TP, nuts are more symmetric - need to be careful piling too much money in.

River Play

Trippling:

• Hard to come up with eneral rules
• Based around how much our range improves:
• e.g on FD & SD complete - you have to be more creative with your bluffs
• if river bricks and misses your future bluffs too, you have to be careful

Sizing:

• Complicated
• Nice heuristic vs most players who won't bluff-raise aggressively - just bet what you think your hand is worth

 Summary

otherwise opponent can punish us by x/r aggressively

Bricks:

 - our range advantage carries over from the flop

- no need to trap to protect x range

Draw complete:

- solver starts to x back 

- very specific turn card dependant - hard to generalise any rules

Pairing 

- lowest equity for our range - as opponent will have mainly pairs after folding air vs our big bet on the flop, while we can have all the air