To read through each of Bencb's tweets, visit his personal X/Twitter page.
A SIMPLE and POWERFUL 7-step guide to MAXIMISE your profits.
I will keep it simple, use logic and exploitative strategies, that will help you crush up to $200 Tournaments. I will not use fancy GTO strategies that will end up confusing you.
#6 Will IMPROVE your winrate the most. DO NOT SKIP. It is still based on Theory but way more powerful for the real games out there.
I will mostly use IN POSITION and chEV Strategies for 30-50bb. Of course, OOP, ICM and different stacks will have an impact on our strategy. HOWEVER, the logic used here can be extrapolated to also play different spots (ICM, deeper stacks) much better.
So lets start.
#1: Forget Slow Playing
If you have a hand that often can go 3 streets for value and stack your opponent, NEVER consider slow playing or "try to induce something" by checking back or betting small.
Population is under check raising, especially Turns, there is no point in trying to have your opponent putting the money in for you. SO BET BIG!!!
#2: Play Your Hand Strength on Turns
This will be the most controversial one. Play YOUR HAND STRENGTH. If you have a draw or bluff, simply go 50%-75%. Give yourself a good risk/reward on your bluffs/draws. You will NOT get exploited. If majority are so good, to take notes, observe and study to exploit your EXPLOITATIVE Turn strategy, then there wouldn't be any money to be made. Too many good players would kill win rates. DO YOU GET THAT?
If there is a high chance, your opponent can have a lot of check/raises, then check back hands that will often improve on the River.
Example:
Stack sizes: 30bb Your hand:
Flop:
b33/call
Turn:
Pot: 10bb
After c-betting the flop, your opponent will improve to some straights, 2 pairs and even go all in with some Tx hand to protect against draws. Here, it would be a disaster to bet/fold .
If you are deeper lets say 50bb+, it is unlikely your opponent is going to check/shove, thus, we can bet more often and then call a raise and realise our Equity. With 30bb effective pre flop, we would bluff hands like K5 or A3, simply being more "polarised".
To summarise this:
The shorter you are, the more "polarised" you bet the Turn, meaning, your bluffs will be weaker, often just 1 Overcard with a low kicker (A3,K5 type of hands), or just 2 naked over cards with no flush draw, I.e QJ type of hands (Advanced: For Over cards, try not to bluff with Suites that block villains Flop Floats)
The deeper you are, the more "Equity driven" you will barrel, meaning you will bet more often draws, because you can call a check/raise (also the raising likelihood decreases too)
Another example:
Flop:
b33/call
Turn:
Pot: 10bb
If I have JJ or AT, KT or QQ type of hands (so still strong on the Turn, but quite vulnerable), I would go for a 80%-120% pot size bet (again, making adjustments against different opponents).
If I am deeper (50bb+) and my opponent shoves, I would bet/fold JJ or AT (we are beaten!!!).
If am I playing 30bb or less, I will stack off on the Turn, since we beat value and the stack to pot ratio is to small.
#3. Avoid Losing Money on Scary Rivers
You always aim to get stacks in with your good hands.
If the board is somewhat drawy/dangerous, you want to get a big bet in on the Turn (given a decent amount of action killers hindering you from getting more money on the River).
#4. Size Bluffs for the Majority of Players
What about the sizing with your bluffs? AGAIN, IT WILL NOT BE EXPLOITED BY MAJORITY. And we want to align your gameplay against what MOST do.
If some mthfka is exploiting you, who cares. You lose a bit of EV against ONE and PRINT against 9 other players. So in that spot above, I would bet my K5s or A3o 50%-66%. That's it. It works like magic.
#5. Be Aggressive on Scare Cards
Be AGGRESSIVE (VERY) on "Scare cards".
So in this spot:
Flop:
b33/call
Turn:
Pot: 10bb
Here, I would only check my KJ, some AK and J9 with around 30bb effective (same logic as above), but barrel EXTREMELY aggro with my A8, K7, A5, J8, 87 etc..
Also here, 50%-66% is fine, since we gonna be bluff heavy, we want to chose a sizing to give ourselves a great price on our bluff. We want to attack 6x,2x,33-99 and the Flop A high and K high floats. Also, you will have more Qx you bet the flop with, so you are going to have more nutted hands (but you still have a lot of bluffs).
Again, PLAY YOUR hand. An AT or KT does not have 3 streets anymore. So make sure, to get on big bet in from weaker Tx and then check the River. Vs Callingstations I would still be the River that is a brick like a 2,3,4,5.
#6. Tailor Your River Bets to Their Range
For Rivers, you have to apply the following logic?
Does your opponent have a lot of calling hands?
Yes, GO BIG! Try to go for pot size or slightly over bet.
Again, DO NOT fall for Fancy Play Syndrome and "induce".
So in this spot:
Flop: b33%/call
Turn: Pot: 10bb b80%/call
River: Pot: 26bb
I would often bet around 15-20bb since my opponent has a lot of Tx and some 6x and we aim to get a crying call.
You could also go over bet, but then you get more folds from Tx but still the calls from Qx.
So both have upsides and downsides and the EV should be close.
(That's normal in Poker, that often 2 lines have similar EV).
What if the spot is like this?
So in this spot:
Flop: b33%/call
Turn: Pot: 10bb b80%/call
River: Pot: 26bb
Here, if I have 30bb,40bb behind, I would often go at least pot size, since my opponent is very often on Tx.
So if I have JJ here. I would often go all in.
Why? Remember the logic from above.
Does my opponent have a lot of good hands? YES
He calls Flop and Turn, thus having lots of Tx = Top Pair.
GO BIG.
On a Turn, my opponent has a lot of 2nd pairs on the River, therefore I can size down a bit.
My goal here, is to maximise EV with my Value hands and not play my overall Range as GTO would suggest you.
You would lose more EV by trying to strive for GTO strategy BECAUSE YOUR OPPONENT IS NOT PLAYING GTO.
#7. Attack Auto-Folds
What about Boards, that are somewhat dry and there aren't any scare cards?
Flop:
b33%/call
Turn:
Pot: 10bb
Still a great card to attack. I see a lot of players being to afraid (because nothing really changes) to remain aggro.
BUT, think about all the hands Villain is check/calling with?
All the Broadways with BD Flushdraw, even AJ AT KQ KJ without backdoor flush draw.
That's a SHIT TON of combos. You still have all over pairs.
My strategy:
Value: 88+ A7 kind of hands: 80%-100% pot
Bluff: A4, JT, KT type of hands: 50-80% pot
That works like a charm. Your goal again, just attack the auto folds.
River? I continue when my bluffs improve but when my opponent calls again he is likely on 88-TT, 7x and some 44-66.
So we have to be careful because its often a spot where our opponent will feel like being top of range with 7x and even some 66 combos (because 88-TT would often raise earlier).
So I would only bluff on a Q K J A but give up my bluffs on other cards (even a T,9,8 we wouldn't represent enough in villains eyes).
Of course, I could go on for hours, and break down more boards and situations. And yes, there are exceptions. This is a start, to push you in the right direction.
But first, you need to understand some basic principles. I encourage you to have an "aha moment", to think "that makes sense". And then to think about other spots (OOP, diff. stacks, ICM) and apply the logic there. Yes, Positions matter. I on purpose neglect positions here, because I want you to apply this logic with different ranges.
