Sitting down to battle at 200NL is a daunting enough task, let alone considering the advance poker strategy required to be a true winner in these games online in 2022.
Fortunately, here at Pokercode, we have you covered, with people like Cash Game Pro and Pokercode Cash Game Coach Steffen Sontheimer on hand to talk you through advanced poker strategy in more understandable and relatable terms!
The action picks up as Steffen has elected to 3-bet out of the small blind with A❤️5❤️ with the Villain calling from Middle Position/High Jack.
Flop 9♦️8❤️4♣️
On the flop, effective stacks are around 40bb, Steffen remarks he likes to bet bigger on this type of flop with his range. We are forcing out hands like KQ, who have equity decent equity if they're able to float the flop bet for cheap.
Turn K♠️
For our range, this is a fantastic card. Our hand is a great candidate to be part of our bluffing range as the K on the turn smashes our range.
Steffen remarks that sizing down on the turn means we can extract maximum value with our value hands when we shove river whilst also enabling us to barrel off our bluffs, like our current hand.
River T♠️
Steffen points out that this is a horrible card for us, but we would be playing out AK for value, so we also need to have some bluffs. We expect to run into many sets, and a lot of hands will have got there. But by betting 22bb to win 50bb, we don't need a great deal of fold equity, and when the Villain finds a fold, we're rewarded for our thoughtful strategic approach.
We join the action as Steffen is 4-betting out of the Big Blind. A pretty big sizing of 22.5bb after a 7bb 3-bet from the button with A♠️Q♦️, button flats.
Flop 8❤️6♠️Q❤️
What looks to be a good but exciting board, Steffen outlines that Villain can have a chunk of 6x, 45 or TT, so it's a board where we can size up a little as opposed to a 1/4 pot sizing that we look to utilise often on dry boards. Steffen bets half pot (22.5 bb's), and the Villain calls.
Turn 2♠️
Jamming and sizing down are both options here. With the A♠️ in hand, Steffen elects Jam. Unfortunately, we run into the Set of 8's and are drawing dead.
Steffen laments after that we size up preflop to kill the opponent's odds of flatting hands like pocket 8's, 9's & T's profitably.
A key piece of advice here from Steffen is that we should be noting down the opponent calling a larger 4-bet pre with this type of hand. As button vs MP, some people are always flatting this type of hand instead of 3-bet calling 4bets. Knowing this in the future means in similar spots, we know Villain is doing similar with 9's & T's here, so when they don't flop sets, we can punish them.
Read about why Pokercode cash game coach Steffen Sontheimer quit high-stakes tournaments.
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