Notes: Coaching Kristy #1

Coaching Kristy #1

-----

Priority #1 - Know WHY you're doing what you're doing.

A bad plan is better than no plan at all.

-----

** WHY do we bet?

- Most commonly, we are betting for value. (to get called or raised by a worse hand)

At lower stakes, it is much more valuable to be value betting until you get raised, because players at this level are much more likely to call with weak made hands/draws/air than they are to fold them.

- The other two reasons to bet are:

Bluff (get a worse hand to fold)
Collect dead money (Bet because Villain can't call)

- When we want to bluff, we need to balance two things:

Pot Equity
Fold Equity

- How do we know when we have good fold equity?

We're deep
The action would make sense for a strong hand
The number of players in the pot
Board texture - does it fit into strong hands?

** Don't call 3-bets OOP

Being OOP really weakens your equity. Four-bet or fold.

** Plans against different players

- Bad passive players - Value bet until we get raised. They only bet for value.
- Bad aggressive players - Value bet until we get raised. They often bet as a bluff, so call them down more lightly.

Value betting is always your top priority!

** The most likely reason you're getting pushed around at small stakes is that they're actually hitting hands.

People that 4-bet almost always have the goods.

** Whenever there is a bad player at the table, there is a limited amount of time in which to get his money before someone else does. Get into pots with the fish, be willing to gamble with them a bit.

** The point of value betting isn't that you have a better hand than your opponent - it's that your opponent will call or raise with a hand worse than yours!

As such, you have to bet smaller sometimes when your opponent simply can't be strong.

** Keeping their heads down

When your opponent either has a showdown value hand slightly worse than yours OR he has a drawing hand - bet the turn for thin value and C/C the river on blanks.

** Don't bluff catch against people who don't bluff!

** Thought process for betting:

Can I bet for value?
Do I have pot equity?
Do I have fold equity?

** Don't get tied to the fact that you're the preflop raiser - you don't always have to c-bet, particularly on very draw heavy and/or multiway flops.

** Distinguish between actual value and relative value (based on the board and the action)

** Go through the thought process whenever you consider betting and whenever you are raised or bet into