All language subtitles for 1-2-3 [English]

There's more three
relevant advanced topics

that I want to cover, ranging
from playability to mixed

strategies and blockers.

I've already touched
base on playability,

but there's generally four hand
categories: pairs, connectors

suited hands and high cards.

As you can see in the
graphic. Some of them

overlap and it's
hard to generalize,

but this is just a leading idea.

Where it's easier for
you to understand

what I mean when I explain it.

But what is important is, that
these different categories,

their equity and their
playability specifically

changes, depending on their open
range and their open sizing,

but also the
effective stacksize.

So again we take these other
factors into consideration

and merge them to
make a decision.

So, looking at the openrange,
certain hand categories

are hard to play against.

When for example, they
have a tight range,

we will rather
refrain from using

high cards or suited hands,
even when we hit top pair it's

tough to play against
big bets from strong ranges.

So there's small pairs
like 22-55,

who perform way better
deep, specifically

because of the set value.
But also because there

is no blocker effect versus
the top range of your opponent

and you can't really call a
rejam when you're shortstacked.

So you can't call
many allins. And then

there is connected hands who
perform way better deep stacked,

because they can
realize equity, make

more straights, hit
hands that are hidden

and balance your ranges.

But it's really important that
they realize their equity, that

doesn't really work short
stacked. Because most often you

have a small pair,
can't really realize

the equity of your straight
draws or gutshots.

And also if you hit
it you don't get paid out,

so it's very important to
think about: when you're short

stacked,

connected hands lose
on value. And then

there's other hand categories
to improve in value

when stack size decreases.

Especially high card hands, when
you hit top pairs like Kx,

or Ax you can call off bets,

you can call off shoves
when you're short stacked.

But when you're
deep stacked, you have

trouble facing multiple bets

and especially
very large bets.

So it requires more equity
to stackoff deep stacked

and it requires
stronger hands, more nutted

hands. So often top pair is
bad versus these three streets

aggressions, when the
bets are very large.

And so when it's
limited by a stack size

then that's good for
hands like top pair.

Another very important
concept is mixed strategies

or mixing your frequencies. It's
especially very important pre-

flop, but also relevant post
flop and you will see it

throughout the
course. Especially

when the options have very
close or almost equal value.

It helps us mixing our
strategies and hands

and be less predictable but
also helps protecting our range

and covering multiple
boards. So, if there

is a lot of different
types of hands that

have similar value, we want to
make sure that we become as

balanced and
unpredictable as possible.

And that we cover a
variety of different boards

for our opponent to be
harder for us to predict.

So it's important for us to have
strong hands on all runouts.

So whatever turn
or river comes, we

want to have strong hands on
all these different versions

and categories.

So that's why we have
to mix our frequencies.

We cannot only always do the
same with one type of hand.

So the advantage of
having a mixed strategy

is that it's really
tough to play against us.

And it's hard to make
assumptions against our range

but also we maximize
our value and EV

with our overall strategy.

And when you think about
when to use mix strategies,

it's especially important
when we play preflop.

So whether it's open-
raising or 3betting,

we have to think about
mixing our strategies.

And it's especially important
when stacks are shallow.

So we've got to mix
between minraising, maybe

limping or shoving
all in. Deepstacked pre-

flop it's less important because
we can play raise or fold only.

And the difference is not so big
because there we don't really

have to think about
balancing or protecting,

but when we're shorter we
really have to take that

into consideration.
When we 3bet

or flat though, we have to start
thinking about mixing it up.

So we have to balance
having some strong hands.

Because if we always 3bet
with strong brands

and never flat them,
then we will become

very exploitable and
predictable for our opponents.

For example, being behind us.

So again, we want to
have good board coverage.

Having some strong
hands in there, so

they can't outplay us
on every runout,

but also we want to
adjust for players

behind and against
the initial raiser.

It's also very relevant
playing blind versus blind,

because that's the most
mixed-heavy situation,

or one of the most mixed.

There is a lot of
different hands,

we have a lot of
different categories

and we play a very
vast majority of them

when we're first-in
in the small blind.

So there, the frequency,
or the importance,

of having board coverage on all
different run outs increases.

And it's very
important that we know

the strategy of how to play it.

I've been a lot of times in
situations in the small blind,

where I didn't really
know how to play.

And dealing with
this really helped me

understanding the
concept better.

And so the fundamental
there again

is very important
to understand that.

So the frequencies and having
different frequencies

is important for us
to exploit or win

against our opponent
in the big blind

because the more balanced we
are, again the harder it becomes

for him to play against us and
the more unpredictable we become.

So we want to develop a
simple and understandable,

we don't want to overcomplicate
it, but also unpredictable and

very tough and balance strategy
and we will show you how,

in the upcoming lectures. When
I talk about simplifying it,

it's also important
to understand

when not to use mixed
strategies. So when

one option has higher EV, we
want to go with the pure play.

We do not want to mix
between different options

because if we believe one option
clearly is the better choice,

we want to go with that.

So, for exploitable
reasons we want

to really focus in on that.

So if our opponent has
a big raise/folding-gap,

we make a lot of profit
already with 3betting.

We don't want to
overdo it, but there

is a lot of hands where we want to
adjust automatically 3bet

against this opponent,
if we have a very

solid read. On the other hand,

if our opponent doesn't
ever fold to 3bets,

we do not need a bluffing range.

We don't generate enough
folds, so it's not necessary

for us to mix in any bluffs,
especially when normally

the equities run very close
and the value is really close.

So against these
type of opponents,

where we have a
pretty strong read,

we will just not mix it and
just 3bet for value

or fold with weaker hands.

It's important to
also understand

when not to use make strategies.

So when one option
clearly has the higher EV,

we want to go with the
pure play and just choose

that one option.

So, especially in
exploitable situations

or when we're not very sure
about the very detailed things,

we want to simplify strategy.
But especially when we

have information
about our opponent

we want to use that
to our advantage.

So if we're quite certain that
our opponent has a big raise/

folding-gap,

so he's raising too much
and folding too much,

after you raised,
then we definitely

want to use all
our hands that we

want to 3bet and just
auto-profit from a 3bet.

So in that case, we
wouldn't mix it up

we wouldn't flat or
fold certain hands,

but we would just go
with the 3bet

if we believe that our
information is strong.

On the other hand, it can go
in the other direction as well.

If we feel like he
doesn't fold to 3bets,

we do not generate enough
folds with our bluffs

and we will reduce
our bluffing frequency

and might just have a
pure fold with these hands.

So, very important to not
stick with the strategy

if we are not certain about it,
but also have stronger information

that lead another
way. In the graphic,

you can see how mixed strategies
will look graphically.

So, KQo in this example,
we 3bet 50% of the time

and we fold 50% of the time.

So you can see that
with red and blue.

T9s, in comparison
to that, in certain situations

is even a hand where
we'll mix all of it.

So we will mix 3betting,
calling and folding.

And in this example,
almost a third of the time.

So you will see,
throughout the course,

that we will show this
in different scenarios

and also explain why mixed
strategies and apply why it's

important, but always keep
that in mind, we will always

try to balance our range, mixing
through different actions.

Blockers are relevant in
most situations of poker.

Especially preflop for
3betting-ranges.

When ranges get tighter and
there's less combinations

available in the
specific ranges. Postflop

we want to block
defending ranges

and unblock bluffs,
especially the smaller

the ranges get and the
less combinations we have,

turns and rivers, there blockers
become a very essential tool

and something we always have
to keep in the back of our mind.

Because this is a basis of
how we can make decisions.

And so we have to be aware,
what range we are facing,

but also be aware
of our own range.

So, blocking means
reducing combos,

both in their value range and
in their potential buff-range.

So, in most cases,
we want to make sure,

that we block or unblock the
strongest hands of the villain.

So, in this example,
let's look at how strong

the blocker effect
can actually be.

If we take the hand
where we have A7o,

and we look at the range of
very strong hands an opponent

potentially could have,
the amount of combos

that he can have from
AA to AK, which

are some of his strongest
hands, significantly

gets reduced
through holding A7o.

So, there's only 15 combos
left from initially 22 combos,

because now that we have the ace
of spades in our hand, he cannot

have AA with the ace of
spades or AK with the ace

of spades.

So, we actually cut
about a quarter

of his possible combinations and
reduce his very strong hands.

So this, for example,
would be a hand

we could use for a raise/folding
range in shorter situations

or even blocking hands post flop

and in other situations.

So it's very
interesting to always

have in mind what hand we have
and how we block or unblock

our opponents' range, so
we reduce his value range

and in some parts we also
reduce his folding range.