Advanced Poker Quiz 1- Preflop

Poker Strategy
1

This quiz is inspired by the unofficial poker IQ test by yiazmat. In this test, I will be focusing on difficult spots against strong players. I plan to make a series of test for different streets with the first one on preflop. In the quiz, unless otherwise stated, assume you are playing 6-max, 100bb effective stacks against very strong TAG players. Imagine that the TAGs are professional players like Doug Polk or Jungleman, but with a tight opening range. They play very balanced and have very little leaks. You will get 0 to 3 points based on how good or how bad your decision is.

  1. UTG opens to 3bb, and the action fold to you. You hold T9s in the CO. What should you do the majority of the time?
    a. fold
    b. call
    c. 3-bet
Answer

a. 3 points
b. 0 points
c. 0 points

T9 is dominated too much of the time by UTG’s tight range to call. He has hands like AT, KTs, QTs, and JTs. AK will out straight T9. A good player will not easily stack off when you do make a flush or straight. You also don’t have much bluff equity on most boards since your calling range is capped and relatively weak.

Raising is a viable option, only if it is done at a small frequency. If you raise T9s most of the time, you will raise too many hands.

The best option is to simply fold.

  1. CO opens to 2.25bb. You hold T9s in the BU (button). What should you do the majority of the time?
    a. fold
    b. call
    c. 3-bet
Answer

a. 2 points
b. 3 points
c. 0 points

Although you will still be dominated very often, you are facing a CO open, which is quite wide. You are getting very good odds in position with a strong drawing hand against a very small raise. The big blind will likely call due to the good odds, making it multiway pot where drawing hands perform very well.

You’ll make more money by calling and realizing your equity than 3-betting since the T9s has to fold to a 4-bet and performs poorly against a 3-bet calling range.

  1. UTG raises to 2.25bb. The action folds to you in the big blind. Which one of these hands should you call with?
    a. 63s
    b. A2o
    c. 54o
    d. J2s
Answer

a. 3 points
b. 0 points
c. 0 points
d. 1 point

You are getting 3 to 1 pot odds, meaning you have to win 25% of the time to break even. However, it is not that simple since you are out of position, you will have a hard time realizing the equity of your hands.The UTG opening range is very tight, and due to pot odds, your calling range will be naturally very wide. Thus, UTG can cbet small very often, and double or even triple barrel thin since you rarely will have a hand. Single low pairs will have a tough time calling a cbet unless it is coupled with a draw since it will likely face a bet on the turn.

With a hand like 54o or J2s, you have to fold most flops and are unable to realize your equity. With a hand like 63s, you have both flush draws and straights draws, which means you can call much more often against a cbet and realize much more of your equity. With A2o, although it has close to 40% equity against the UTG range, it still does not hit top pair or better very often to continue. It cannot float a cbet, since it struggles against even the bluffing range of the UTG raiser. In addition, any ace pair is very likely to be dominated and will have to pay off a least 2 streets.

  1. You are in the big blind with JJ. Action folds to the small blind who raises to 3bb. You 3-bet to 9bb. SB 4-bets to 30bb. What should you do?
    a. fold
    b. call
    c. 5-bet allin
Answer

a. 0 points
b. 1 point
c. 3 points

The blind vs blind ranges are very wide. SB could very easily be 4-betting hands like AQ or TT for value. If you call, you lose the initiative and will have a very tough time on flops with overcards. You should just jam for value and will get called by enough worse hands like AK or AQ.

  1. UTG raises to 3bb. Button calls. Action fold to you in the BB with JJ. What should you do?
    a. fold
    b. call the vast majority of the time
    c. 3-bet the vast majority of the time
    d. sometimes call and sometimes 3-bet
Answer

a. 0 points
b. 1 point
c. 3 points
d. 2 points

JJ is a very strong hand, but is vulnerable to overcards and drastically loses its equity in multiway pots. You are out of position, and if overcards come, your hand will likely be reduced to a set-mining hand; therefore, you need to raise for thin value and try to play a heads-up pot.

  1. UTG raises to 3bb. Action folds to you in the button with JJ. What should you do the majority of the time?
    a. fold
    b. call
    c. 3-bet
Answer

a. 0 points
b. 3 points
c. 2 points

With a strong hand like JJ, you could 3-bet for value and get called by worse. However, you will face a very tough decision against a 4-bet. Instead, you should just smooth call and play some post-flop in position against a range you dominate. Unlike the previous problem, you are in position and the big blind will not call very often, so you don’t have to worry as much about multiway pots.

  1. UTG opens to 2bb. Action folds to you in the BB with QQ. What should you do?
    a. fold
    b. call the vast majority of the time
    c. 3-bet the vast majority of the time
    d. sometimes call and sometimes 3-bet
Summary

a. 0
b. 3 points
c. 1 point
d. 3 points

Ah, min-raises. To understand this problem, you need to think about your entire range and the range of the UTG player. Due to pot odds, your calling range is very wide and very weak, but the UTG player’s range is very strong. The UTG player will be cbetting, double barreling, and triple barreling very often. Thus slow playing QQ is fine since you face a lot of bets. By raising, you define your range and give a reason for the UTG to not barrel very wide. Furthermore, QQ will have a tough time against a 4-bet since UTG’s range is so tight.

  1. You are UTG with 67s. You usually open-raise to 2.5bb (pretend you do for this problem). What should you do?
    a. fold 100% of the time
    b. raise 25% of the time, fold 75% of the time
    c. raise 100% of the time
Answer

a. 3 points
b. 3 points
c. 0 points

A hand like 67s is too weak to be opening from UTG most of the time. If you open so wide, you will be prone to 3-bets. Besides, suited connectors realize their equity poorly out of position. Instead, you should open suited connectors a small percentage of the time to keeping your opponents guessing and be able to hit strong hands across a variety of flops. Note that it is fine to raise 67s more often (or less often), but it is good to have a mixed strategy. It is also fine to fold all combos of 67s, but it will make postflop play more difficult since your range is more predictable.

  1. A strong LAG opens to 3bb from the CO. You hold AJs in the button. What should you do?
    a. fold
    b. call
    c. 3-bet and call a 4-bet
    d. 3-bet and fold to a 4-bet
Answer

a. 0 points
b. 2 points
c. 3 points
d. 1 point

Your opponent opens very wide so you can 3-bet weaker hands for value and still get called by worse. If the LAG 4-bets with a balanced range, you should call with AJs. Though AJs is behind the value hands like JJ+, AQ+, AJs is still way ahead of the bluffs and has good equity against his entire range.

  1. UTG opens to 3bb. MP calls. A fish on the CO calls. You 3-bet with AKs on the button to 20bb. Action folds to the CO. CO goes allin for 100bb. Assuming the fish makes this play with only QQ+ and AK, should you call?
    a. yes
    b. no
Answer

a. 3 points
b. 0 points

You are calling 80bb to win a pot of 207.5bb, which means you need 38.6% equity to break even. AKs has 42% equity against QQ+, AK.

  1. Assume action folds to you on the button, and you face a big blind that calls way too much regardless of the raise size. The big blind still plays strong postflop. Assuming that the small blind is multi-tabling and does not make any adjustments, what adjustments should you make to maximize your profits against the big blind?
    a. raise more hands and raise bigger
    b. raise less hands and raise bigger
    c. raise more hands and raise smaller
    d. raise less hands and raise smaller
Answer

a. 3 points
b. 1 point
c. 1 point
d. 0 points

Since the big blind calls too wide, you can bet weaker hands and bet bigger for value since the BB will call with worse. You just have to be less loose than the big blind to make a profit. In addition, since BB calls with trash hands, you can cbet and double barrel more often. That means that the marginal hands might not have good raw equity against the BB, but will have enough fold equity on the flop and turn.

Results
Let’s see how you did.
27-33 points: You are poker god. You understand hand ranges very well and how they contort to bets and calls. Your play is tough and balanced, but you know how to exploit weak players as well. Why do you still waste your time playing on a play money poker site?

20-27 points: You are a very strong players. You have a very strong grasp of hand ranges, and you are tough to play against. However, you often fail or are afraid to push every edge and make mistakes in marginal situations.

13-20 points: You are a strong player that can beat most people, but will struggle against some of the tougher, more aggressive players. You have ability to improve tremendously if you try.

7-13 points: You are a good player with a decent grasp of some advanced poker concepts. You can easily beat the typical passive game, but you don’t know how to play against aggressive or even maniacal players.

0-7: You are the average poker player. You might understand the basic concepts, but you still have a lot to learn.

  • 27-33 points
  • 20-27 points
  • 13-20 points
  • 7-13 points
  • 0-7 points

0 voters

3 Likes
2

Another great quiz on the Forum. Thanks for taking the time to bring this to everyone. Its nice to see poker threads becoming more frequent as opposed to more “what’s you favorite fruit and why”.

On #11, I have a question. How much of a station is this guy post-flop? Is he calling opens but folding a lot to c-bets or is he truly a calling station through and through? The answer would affect my selection. Good stuff though. I’ll post my score after I complete the last question.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the great test. Got 26 points.

2 Likes
4

Great idea for a new thread :joy::joy::joy:

1 Like
5

@Maya - you’re my favorite fruit, or should that be ‘nut’? :slight_smile:

1 Like
6

I’ve changed the question to make it less ambiguous. The preflop raiser plays strong postflop.

Question #11 Spoilers

It doesn’t matter if the guy is a calling station. If he is a calling station, then you can just value bet thin. You can double barrel with some second pairs and triple barrel your top pairs.

1 Like
7

also a fun test :+1:

i had 24 points (33303212133),
there were however a few points i like to add where i had a different opinion or additional mentions:

2: i chose the right option, which was a call. but you didn’t gave any points towards 3betting. i think folding here is worse then 3betting, since you’re playing against strong opponents, you need a 3bet bluff range. restealing from another late position with a good drawing hand is defenitely fitting into the light 3bet range

3: i chose what i thought was the best option, and apparently it was teh right one. however i would choose to call there on all but teh A2o option. there is already 3,75 BB in the pot and all you need is to call 1,25. so all you need is 25%. obviously it’s not just about the raw odds here, but it’s about postflop as well. the UTG clearly holds a strong hand. but on all those drawing hands you have a possibility to win a large pot. even with a low flop you might still win a small pot, of course, he might hold an overpair, but most of the time he might hold large cards. and the most important part is that you want to be known that you defend your blind if nessecary. of course you can do that better to a LP raise, but when you get such good odds, i tend to do it against this position as well. the only hand i wouldn’t call here is A2o, simply because it barely holds any implied odds, only when you hit 2pair or a wheel, which just happens too rarely. but the other hands, you do hold more potential hands that might pay off, obviously mostly the draws. and because of the priice you’re getting, it seems woth to call it.

4: this is the only question that gave me 0 points. after thinking a while about this one i think i agree with you anyway, but with a few additional reasons: first and most important, i don’t think this would be a shove for value, i think you’re turning JJ into a bluff. like u said in blind vs blind there are more bluff raises, granting you more fold equity. but the hands that would call are usually hands that have you crushed. i don’t see TT or AQ call a 5bet shove here. there are just too many hands that have him dominated. however i can see AK and QQ+ call. you are flipping with AK, but teh other ones have you crushed. funny enough, there might even be some bluff hands like suited connectors or small pairs calling because of the odds. but since he is a strong TAG, i think he would already have anticipated on this by 4betting lower. so i don’t see much bluffs call there anyway.

6: i would still 3bet here, i agree on most of your arguments. but it’s probably even more important to consider that JJ is that hardest hand to play postflop. about 50% of the time you will flop an overcard. sure, position makes it easier. but it’s still difficult when you are gonna face a Cbet and maybe even double barrels. so i would want value where JJ is best, which is preflop

7: this would be a similar reason to question 6. QQ is easier to play then JJ, but it holds the same issue, when an overcard flops, you are in an awkward position. in your example you mentioned you can slowplay QQ against his range, which might be fine if you would know for sure there will be no king or ace, but since you won’t you can’t slowplay your QQ even if no overcard flops, because htey can come later on. and if it does flop, it’s even worse and you can’t extract any value anymore. and you might need to fold the best hand if villain decides to bluff. just like JJ, QQ holds most of it’s value preflop.

8: even though i would defenitely use B in a normal situation, i won’t do it now because we are playing way too loose. since we usually are open raising 2,5 BB, it means everyone is already aware of this. meaning bluff raising a suited connector from EP won’t generate much folds (which we want) if we were playing tight instead, i would defenitely choose option B. but because we are raising all the time, a raise again won’t be very trustworthy.

9: in this once i would defenitely fold to a 4bet, the pot here will already be very high on a 4bet call, sure you are ahead of his bluffs, maybe even his range. but no matter what flop, you have a serious chance he shoves it and you’re in a terrible decision. on a low flop he might have an overpair, he might have hit some of his low cards which involved a preflop bluff. or he’s just bluffing. on a high flop you might face a bigger ace, or a bluff. in other words, you might get shoved widely and you have no idea where you are.

11: i had this one right, and i agree as well. i just like to add on this one that while it may be a good strategy, i don’t think it maximizes value. the one better option seems to bet much higher on big hands and slightly higher on playable hands. since he doesn’t pay attention to your sizes, it can’t hurt to ajust them to your hand strength.
also: i don’t think raising more hands is the right way to say it, it’s more like merging your range. we don’t raise more hands because we erase bluff hands and add lesser value hands. meaning there aren’t more hands, just different ones

2 Likes
8

You got it on that question (11). Glad to see your head for the game is getting stronger all the time.

1 Like
9

2: Yes, you are right when you say you need to 3-bet with T9s. It helps disguise your range and you can flop draws that you can barrel with. However, the question asks what should you do the majority of the time (which I’ve highlighted now). T9s shouldn’t be a card you should be 3 betting often since T9s has negative blockers. CO is unlikely to call with a hand that has a 9 or T in it with the exception of ATs, JTs, T9s, TT, and 99, so you want hands without Ts or 9s so it is more likely CO has a hand KT, QT, K9s, etc. Instead, you should lean towards bluffing with lower suited connectors like 67s and 78s, suited Ax hands, and broadways combos likes ATs as semi-bluffs. With these hands, it is easy to find enough bluff combos to balance your range.

J2s and 54o still lack enough strong flops to continue on. 5% of the time, they will flop 2 pair or better. 10% of the time, they will flop a strong draw (flush draw or open ender). Small pairs and gut-shot straight draws are too weak to call (or are break even) against a c-bet due to the high double barrel frequency. 54 will continue with 15% of hands on the flop, which is not even close to the 25%. J2s is in a much closer spot. It hits a jack single pair around 13% of the time, and two single pair + flush draw around 1% of the time. With J2s we can continue around 29% of the time. The only problem is that the jack pairs often dominated or have overcards and cannot realize its full equity. It is certainly a very close spot. I will give it 1 point.

Small blind vs Big blind ranges are super wide if played properly since they get such great pot odds and are only facing 1 player. I think fold JJ is just way too tight. BB should be 3-betting very wide as he is in position and have plenty of postflop maneuverability, so SB can 4-bet very light. Here are my ranges listed by value and then bluff ratio.
BB 3-bet: JJ+, AJ+, ATs+, 98s+, J9s+ and 2 times as many bluffs as value
SB 4-bet: JJ+, AQs+, AK and 1.5 times as many bluffs as value
SB 5-bet call: JJ+, AQ+, AK
JJ has 43 percent equity against SB’s calling range (don’t quote me on this; I’m just estimating it) so we need 44% fold equity to break even. Free Fold Equity Calculator For Poker Players
JJ has even high equity against the entire 4-bet range. To call the 4-bet, we need 21/60 or around 2 to 1. If we could only call or fold, this is a very easy call.

6: UTG will 4-bet for value with QQ+, AK, which is around 14-15% of his opening range. Combine that with bluffs, UTG will be 4-betting quite wide. JJ will be facing a really tough spot against a 4-bet. If you 3-bet too often with a large merged range, UTG will adjust and 4-bet bluffs more. JJ is one of those hands that should 3-bet, but not with 100% frequency.

7: Big Blind Strategy 101: Tournaments vs Cash Games - Upswing Poker
Weird spot but this should explain.

8: Agreed. Raising all the time now gets 0 points.

9: Since the LAG raises very light, the button 3-bets very light, which means LAG 4-bets very light. Note that the AJs is suited.
Here is my proposed 4-betting range for the LAG: TT+, AQ+, ATo, KTo, KTs, 25% of A2-A9s, 10% of 22-66. Against a 4-bet you need about a 2 to 1 to call. On an ace or J, you call and suck it out with the LAG. On a flush draw, you call since you have out from overcard (s) and beat some bluffs. The LAG is not going to shove every flop so you can bluff certain flops if the LAG checks. I think that AJs (and only suited) with its flush draw combos can realize a 33% equity against a 4-betting range.

11: Agreed.

1 Like
10

Thanks for the questions. They are great food for thought. I got 10. Maybe I am confused because there is little context on opponents in each scenario, but I disagreed with almost all of the answers. I have been successful at 10NL on ACR over a small sample of ~5k hands (~20bbs/100) and pretty successful on Replay, but it seems like I have a lot to learn… Maybe I am just used to the passive play of Replay and being more than 100bbs deep.

[spoiler]
One. I am almost never folding T9s in this spot. If my opponent only opens QQ+, AK (super strong), I still have 30% equity in position, which is not far from break-even without considering other callers or implied odds (though of course you still have to realize that equity, at least you are in position with a strong drawing hand). If they are all TAGs, then I do not expect to face many 3-bets from the BTN or blinds, and I expect UTG to have a strong hand, so the implied odds are good and I would flat. If one of the blinds also calls, your price to see a flop gets better and you are still in position. If the initial raiser is looser, then T9s is a good hand to 3-bet. You have a strong drawing hand in a good position, and I think you should only be folding if a) you are going to get 3-bet a lot by the players behind or b) you are not going to get paid when you hit 2 pair+.

Two. I think good players would mix in all three options, and really good players hardly ever flat. T9s is a good hand to 3-bet, so while I would probably call most of the time, I think 3-bet or fold are probably better options.

Three. Facing a small UTG raise like that, these hands are almost identical. A2o has the ace blocker, so you are more likely to be facing JJ-KK, so that is the one I would be most likely to defend with. Against a range of JJ+, AK (super strong), 63s has about 1% more equity than A2o or 54o, but it’s hard to realize that equity OOP against a strong hand. Those 3 hands are roughly equivalent, but I’d rather have A2o to block aces and have a chance to flop top pair. You don’t want to flop straight and flush draws and try to chase them OOP when you might not even get paid when you hit. Folding is a pretty good choice with any of these hands, but if you can match your opponent in postflop skill, then either 63s, A2o, or 45o are possible defends or even occasional bluff 3-bets.

Four. To 5bet shove into a pot of 39 bbs (needing to put in 21 more to call the current bet), let’s assume they only call with QQ+, AK, that gives you 36.2% equity when called, you would need to get folds 36% of the time to break even. If your opponent is a TAG, I really don’t see their calling range being much weaker than that or their 4bet range having many hands that they would fold (maybe AQ or TT only), so I think shoving is setting money on fire. I think a call is about break-even in terms of equity, so I could be persuaded that calling is ok, but I think folding is probably the best option unless you opponent has a light 4-betting range.

Six. JJ is worth 3-betting against a raise from any position and you don’t want the blinds to call. For example, my UTG range includes 88-TT and some unpaired aces, which JJ does very well against. If you get 4-bet then folding could be a viable option. Flatting puts you a tough spot where you have to call down on a lot of boards only to see that you are facing QQ+ or if you are lucky TT. High boards and low boards are scary for a flatted JJ.

Seven. Would you flat QQ any of the time against an UTG open? I am 3-betting QQ every time versus all opens unless it’s a super nit who only opens KK+. I do not understand your logic at all about the min-bet. If the min bet means they are strong (which it does not), then you should still be playing your hand aggressively because they will often call and you have a premium hand that you want to play a big pot with. You don’t want to play passively and absorb their aggression because it will be scary to call down on most board and you are afraid of overcards. Put them under pressure right away. AA can be a good hand to slow play occasionally if you are facing an aggro opponent but QQ is a hand that causes huge problems when you slow play.

Nine. I agree that 3-betting is profitable because they probably have a wide range, but AJs is not a great hand to call 4-bets with, even IP. You are often dominated (AA, AK, AQ). It’s not a terrible hand to 5-bet bluff shove, but I like 3-bet fold or just flat the initial open if you are going to fold to a 4bet.[/spoiler]

Moderators, I had to write the question numbers in because it was auto-bulleting my points, which labeled them with the wrong number. Please fix this if possible.

2 Likes
11

For the opponents, imagine that the TAGs are professional players like Doug Polk or Jungleman, but with a tight opening range. They play very balanced and have little leaks. (I will add this to the problem description. I agree that I was a bit vague.).

response to 1

T9s has enough raw equity to call, but T9s plays postflop very poorly since it is so often dominated. Often, when we do hit a straight draw, our opponent will hit a pair since our opponent has so many jacks and queens in their range. Let’s say the board is J72r. If our opponent hits the flop with a strong jack, has an overpair, or has some sort of draw/backdoor draws, he is likely to cbet. If he (or she) has a weak jack like JTs or QJs, he is likely to check. That means the times we do get a straight, its unlikely that we will stack off since he checks his two pair combos that complete our straight. However, when he does have an hand, we often have to call our draws with slightly above break-even odds (due to implied odds). If we do hit our straight and we bet, we won’t get called as often as we like since the UTG will have plenty of bluffs in his range (unlike passive players).
In addition, the UTG’s range is very strong. When we do hit the pair we are often hit second pair that can’t face multiple bets. Even our top pairs aren’t that strong due to overpairs and the Txs suited combos and ATo.

I would imagine that the blinds would squeeze quite frequently even as a tight player since it is unprofitable to call as they are OOP against tight ranges. SB should rarely be calling due to fears of a big blind squeeze and bad pots odds. I think SB would be squeezing with a merged range like JJ+, ATs+, KJs+, AQ+ along with a few combos of Axs hands and suited connectors. SB would be calling only with a few pocket pairs that can hit it on the flop. BB’s range would have more calls, since he closes the action. I think BB’s squeeze range would be AK, AJs+, TT+, KJs+, QJs+, and a few combos of suited connectors. The calling range would probably be pairs, suited connectors, AQo, maybe AJo. The hands that BB or SB calls with generally won’t give implied odds unless it is a set from 77 or 88 or a smaller flush or straight. Given SB and BB combined, I would say being squeezed 12% of the time isn’t unreasonable.

response to 2

I think the 3-bet is only done at a very small frequency. It has negative blockers, meaning it blocks hands that the CO would fold with like KT, QT, ATo, JTo, T8s, K9s, A9, Q9s, etc. When T9s does hit a straight, it will often face a strong pair and have poor fold equity. I think for the same reason as problem 1, the correct response could be debatably folding the majority of the time. I have to look closer into this.

response to 3 and 7

this should explain the weird strategies involving small utg raises
Big Blind Strategy 101: Tournaments vs Cash Games - Upswing Poker
The min bet does not mean they are stronger; They just have a tight range regardless of raise size.

A play like calling a min-raise with QQ is just crazy. Against an unknown, I would 3-bet 100% of the time.

response to 4

SB open ranges are way wider than the Button opening ranges. It is a very common mistake to not open wide or 3-bet wide. Here is my response to a previous post that addressed the same issue.

response to 6

Yes, you are correct in that you crush UTG’s 3-bet calling range, which mostly consists of overcards and underpairs. However, when you do call, your perceived range is very weak against UTG’s range, so UTG will bluff often. By calling with JJ, you can bluff-catch without having to fold equity to a 4-bet. If you call with JJ and face all low cards, then you can remove some of the smaller pairs from your bluff catching range. If an ace comes, just play it as you would with a smaller pair like 99.

SB shouldn’t call often due to BB squeezing and bad odds, but BB will often with pairs and suited connectors (which will often be squeezed with) They might call 10% of the time collectively. You can usually just call a squeeze from the blinds. Playing against BB will be tricky since their squeezing range has suited connectors and lower pairs, but you can just against a SB squeeze fold if an ace, king, or queen comes on the flop (since his range is merged).

In practice though, I would 3-bet all of my JJ since it is so difficult to play. It would take a huge sample size to figure out that I’m 3-betting with JJ too often. But the question asks what we should do the majority of the time.

response to 9

5-betting bluff may be the best choice. I have to analyze that more closely, but it is too tight to fold to a 4-bet. Here was my previous response to the same question asked.

Hope this explains. Feel free to challenge me since my game is not perfect either.

12

Many of these questions are highly theoretical and inapplicable to 99% of players. I don’t think getting a low score on this test means your preflop skills are poor, it just means you might lose a tiny bit of ev in marginal spots against very strong players. I honestly don’t know how so many people got such high scores.

13

A couple of other things.

On question one, you say that T9s is often dominated by the UTG open, but I do not think that is true. UTG opens contain many Ax and big pocket pairs, so with the exception of TT/99 or maybe ATs, you should rarely be dominated. T9s is one of the best hands to crack AA (along with 98s, 87s, 76s, and 65s). It is the only non-pair, non-ace, non-suited broadway hand that has 33%+ equity versus a range of 99+, AJ+, KQs.

A play like calling a min-raise with QQ is just crazy. Against an unknown, I would 3-bet 100% of the time. Where is this quote from? I agree with it 100%, but your quiz has calling a majority of the time as the correct answer…

Question 4: we are not talking about the SB opening or 3-betting, but 4-betting. Elite players have light 4-bet ranges against each other but at online microstakes, live $1/2, or on Replay, a 4-bet range is pretty much KK+, maybe QQ+/AK at the weakest. Edit: you do say they are top pros, so in that case, 5-bet shoving JJ is fine I suppose.

And when you say 2 times as many bluffs as value what exactly do you mean? You give a range, and I am assuming that some part of that range is bluffs and some part is value, but on what basis do you decide? I do not think the range makes sense because it is weirdly merged, including some stronger hands that might flat rather than 3-bet and excluding some hands that would be good to bluff 3-bet (specifically Ax). It is difficult to explain, but, for example A5s is a great hand to bluff 3-bet or bluff 4-bet, while AJs is a hand that has a lot of raw equity, so I think it is incorrect to assume a range that has “bluff 3-bets” like JTs or ATs that may have the equity to call IP but not bluff 3-bets like A5s or 76s. I also think that very few players have correct bluff frequencies, and that 3 and 4-bets are heavily value weighted unless your opponents are very aggro. Edit: Again, if you are facing Doug Polk then yes, he will have a lot of bluffs.

Question 6. I think you have this backwards. It is better to 3-bet JJ and get blown off it by a 4-bet from a bigger pair than to flat and bluff catch. There are too many scary flops and run-outs for JJ to expect to be able to call down, and when you are facing a bigger pair you will lose a bigger pot on a safe board than you would lose by just folding versus a 4bet.

Also, Doug Polk and Jungleman are LAGs not TAGs. Doug Polk has said that he basically never folds to a 3-bet. In the high stakes cash games, these guys are making all kinds of plays with many different holdings, which gives them good board coverage and unpredictability. They make up for the lack of raw equity through postflop skill, and it is difficult to assign them a range. Maybe I am just confused about who the theoretical opponents are. You do say they are top pros. I have never played against a pro, and I would not even try it unless I had done a ton of work on balance and GTO play. Try sitting down with @unranked or @idiotplayer (if she ever comes back) heads up. It is the best learning experience on Replay. To crack a 6-max table full of Doug Polks… that’s another story.

Edit: There has been some interesting discussion about how Replay compares to real poker. In terms of cash games on Replay, there are a handful of players (2-6, and I am not one of them) who are much better than the rest, but none of them claim to be professional players (or even to play regularly for real-money, as far as I know). There are a group of 50-200 players who are good ring game players, by Replay standards, but even against those players you do not need any kind of balance like you would against a pro. ABC poker or simple exploitative poker without a lot of leaks can get you to the top 20.

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14

You must be a serious player because all that talk is like listening to someone speaking another language. If I’m ever in a game with you, please don’t make fun of me. Thanks.

15

it’s because this is a quiz for facing very skilled players, he’s trying to explain some theories about the questions why they are/aren’t right and explains why.
besides, poker is a game which contains lots of terms. assuming all this confuses you, try somewhat more basic strategy articles instead. in almost all cases (replay especcialy) it’s more important to have strong ABC poker (straightforward) then know how to extract thin value spots against pro players.

don’t worry, joe isn’t like that at all. he’s a very good and friendly player.

hope this helps,
yiazmat

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16

I am assuming your post is genuine (as opposed to sarcastic). Yes, poker can be like another language and the shorthand makes it easier to express complex things. It is fun to learn all of the concepts and terms, and I am still in the early stages of learning it all. I would encourage you to learn more because it makes poker so much more fun and deep than just calling a flop to see if some cards match yours. And @yiazmat is correct, playing ABC poker is enough to get to a rank in the top 10 on this site, and I am not consistently playing ABC poker well enough to do that, so these advanced concepts aren’t usually necessary here.

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