POTD #283 I Get Frisky with King Five and am Lost on the Turn
Pictured: Five Kings
Former MLB pitcher Robert Stock recently tweeted
Many years ago the best way to get better at competing was to participate in a ton of competitions. With better training methods, now the best thing to do is train in a lab then go test the results in a competition.
I feel what he described in baseball is also true of poker. The lab can help you sharpen your tools and see what options are available to you at any given time, but the lab is also a safe environment. You need to test the results in the real world and the world will show you things you don’t encounter in the lab. You will never see five-way limped pots in the lab. You’ll never see the BB defend and lead out on AA2 rainbow. These aren’t the hardest spots to play or figure out, but you can only really figure them out by playing real poker. My twin brother Luc has a line that when you play vs. a human you are playing No Limit Hold Em, but vs. a solver you are playing Multiple Variable Fixed Bets Hold Em. Your goal should be to become the best NLH player, not the best MVFBH player, and in order to achieve that goal you need to actually play NLH.
A common thing that happens when you play NLH is, you will be playing an opponent who bets a size that the solver would never pick or, depending on your sim, isn’t even available to pick. You cannot stand up and announce “This bet size is not allowed. Pick again,” so you need to figure out how to best play vs. this suboptimal bet size. Today’s hand begins with me facing a c-bet size that looks normal, but that I suspected was slightly off. Then I check-raised the flop, which I was already unsure of, and then was faced with the trouble spot that is the theme of this week. I check-raise bluffed the flop, was called and missed the turn. What do I do now? Today I chose a safe option because I didn’t know what to do, when there was a better option I never even considered.
EPT Barcelona 2022 € 25,000 No Limit Hold’em (Event #56)
(1k/2k/2k) (SB/BB/BBA) 100k Starting Stack
It folds to Joao Vieira (100k/50bbs) in the CO who makes it 4.5k, it folds to me (100k/50bbs) in the BB with K♣️5♣️ who calls.
Flop (12k) 7♣️4♠️ 2♦️: I check, Joao bets 7k, I make it 20k, he calls.
Turn (52k) 4♥️: I check, Joao checks.
River (52k) K♦️: I check, Joao checks and I win.
