Dynamic Full Ring Poker

by James Sweeney

  While we could map out his PST for each hand strength (2 pair, sets, flushes, boats, etc) versus different board textures, it would be very time consuming for something that is so relative: people think of their hand strengths in relative terms. A player might value top pair (TP) for 50bb against an A-fish, but might only value TP for 30bb against a tight player. A player might value a set at 200bb on a rainbow board, but might value a set at 100bb on a monotone board. So ultimately the PST is a swinging number that is never exact, but just having an idea on someone's PST can help us frame how much we would need to risk on bluffs, and up to how much we can VB.

  The Polarization

  Understanding polarization jumps us from basic strategy up to intermediate and advanced strategy. Simply put, when something is polarized it means we are dealing with the poles. So if a range is polarized, it means it is effectively a “nuts or bluff” range. Depolarization is the exact opposite. Let's visualize this by looking at a 10% 3-bet range:

  We see both ranges are 10%. The one on the left is polarized and has the strongest hands, while the rest of the range is comprised of weak hands. The range on the right is depolarized, and almost all the hands are strong hands with varying levels of strength.

  We can use polarization in numerous ways postflop. We see polarization in CB spots, double barrel spots, and bluff/VB spots. Understanding polarization, coupled with hand reading, can make both hero calls as well as making big folds easier. While a solid understanding of weighing ranges helps the process, just understanding when a range is poled or not will get us thinking in the right direction. As a general rule, better players that understand SDV tend to be more polarized postflop than other players. Bad players, and players who don't grasp SDV, won't be purposefully polarized, and thus hand reading against them is a little more difficult.

  The Minimax Game

  In game theory, we sometimes talk about minimax. Minimax is a game theory decision where a player aims to minimize the loss on their losers and maximize the gain on their winners. This is incredibly important while playing poker. If we are playing a hand against an opponent and we always lose the least possible when we are behind, we are doing well in the minimax game. If we are also always getting the most money from his second best hands, we are crushing the minimax game.

  We will talk about the minimax game a lot in the upcoming chapters. Take a spot where we bluff resteal a player. If his Callv3bet range is super strong and would never fold on the flop, and we never bluff CB and always VB when we flop super strong, then we are crushing the minimax game. We never lose much when behind (we just lose our 3-bet), and we always make the most when we flop huge by VBing. Spots like this happen all the time, and if we are focused on winning the minimax game we are going to be a profitable step ahead of our opponents.

  The Exposure And Mindset

  When we talk about exposure in poker we are talking about how much of our stack we are putting at risk. Players come into playing FR from a variety of places. Some come from SNG/MTT backgrounds, others from 6max, and some yet from games like PLO. Every game has different levels of exposure that are correct or incorrect. So in an MTT we might have no issue exposing our entire stack with TP and a small M. In FR cash games, our exposure goals are a little different.

  If we could sum up FR cash games in a single sentence it would be this:

  “Use a solid hand range and position, value bet winners within reason, and take good potshot bluffs.”

  Effectively we are saying that we don't want to expose a lot of our stack when bluffing, and that we consider exposing more and more of our stack as our hand strength gets stronger and stronger. Notice we said consider, because there are times when trips, a very strong hand strength, can be little more than a bluff catcher. In a nutshell, this is how we should be looking at FR. We are not looking to run massive bluffs, we are not looking to VB so thinly that it becomes -EV, and we are not looking to play an insane range of hands preflop that make the two other factors too difficult. If we keep that in mind while playing, we are on the right track to valuetown.

  10. Understanding Showdown Value

  Showdown value (SDV) can seem like a very complex issue, but it is also a powerful one. If we understand when our hand has SDV, or when it doesn’t, it can frame our hand in an entirely different way. And because of this, we want to fully understand this powerful idea so it makes our lives easier and more profitable.

  SDV simply means that our hand can, or would probably, win at showdown. It fits right in between a bluff hand and a hand with pure value. For instance, say we steal from the button preflop, and just the BB calls. The flop comes K86 and he checks to us. Say we had 3 different hands; 66, 43s, JJ.

  Well 66 of course has pure value. We would ideally like to make a very large pot when we have a set. 43s, on the other hand, has almost no value. If we bet, nothing worse is going to call, and thus it is a total bluff hand. JJ is the odd hand. It has showdown value, we probably don’t get too much value if we bet, and thus trying to get to showdown as cheaply as possible would generally be a good play.

  SDV is based on a bunch of different things: our image, the board texture, our opponent, previous action in the hand, etc. But if we constantly ask ourselves “what does a bet accomplish here?” utilizing SDV becomes infinitely easier. If we would probably win at showdown, and a bet wouldn’t do anything but lose us more money, then utilizing SDV and getting to showdown is usually the best play.

  The Usage

  Knowing about SDV is helpful, but we also need to understand how we can actually apply it in real time. Let’s take an example where we open raise with J9s from the CO. The SB is the only caller and we see a heads up flop of Q54. He checks, we CB, and he calls. The turn comes a 9 and he checks to us again. At this point we want to ask ourselves ‘if we bet, what does it accomplish?’ Anytime we bet we want to have a clear idea of what purpose it serves. If we cannot come up with a solid reason for putting a bet out, then we should usually veer to the side of getting to showdown as soon as possible.

  So we ask ourselves what a bet accomplishes remembering that a bet is valuable because it either gets calls from worse hands or folds from better hands. The hands that probably called us on the flop are things like 76, KQ, 77, or 65. If we bet the turn, the only worse hands that will logically continue are the 76-type hands. The weak pairs, like 77 or 65, will most likely fold, believing the story we have told thus far. We raised preflop, CB, and bet the turn. It looks like our hand is very strong, thus weak hands will usually fold. However, he probably won’t fold things like top pair. Players in full ring, especially in positional (stealing) pots, tend to get a bit stickier with top pair hands.

  If all those things are true, then a bet is fairly useless. Nothing better folds and not much worse continues. Our hand has pretty much turned into a hand with SDV. We have a pair that can win at showdown against a lot of his range, and we have a pair that won’t make much if we are ahead and bet now. When we have this kind of SDV, our goal is to just get to showdown as cheaply as possible. So a check here would be the best play against your normal opponent.

  There are other times this kind of SDV situation happens as well. For instance, say the CO open raises and we 3-bet with AK from the button, and just the CO calls. The flop comes KQ3 and he checks to us. What does a bet really accomplish? Do AA or QQ ever fold? Do JJ or TT really call that often? Once we start asking ourselves these questions, and give honest answers, we see that lots of the time our 1 pair hands in full ring are just SDV hands.

  The SDV Framework

  A great way to quicken our information processing and decision making on the tables is by creating and implementing frameworks. Being able to quickly analyze our hand strength may seem simple, but it is something that most people do incorrectly. The SDV framework helps us quickly assign a strength to our hand and create more optimal lines.

  There are effectively four kinds of hands strengths postflop: bluffs, value hands, semi-bluffs, and SDV hands.
Yes, there are hand strengths like air, 1 pair, 2 pair, flushes, straights, sets, etc., but if we learn to simplify down to those core four kinds, our postflop play becomes much easier as it takes us away from making mistakes, such as thinking ‘we have two pair, and two pair is the nuts!’

  For instance, let’s take a hand where we raise from UTG and get called by the button. The flop comes QJ2, we CB and he calls. The turn is a 5 and it is our option. Let’s look at the hand from the beginning. Say we raised 77+/AK preflop, and CB our entire range on that flop. This means we still have 77+/AK when we are making our turn decision. Let’s categorize each hand:

  Bluffs: 99/88/77

  Value Hands: AA/KK/QQ/JJ

  Semi-Bluffs: AK

  SDV Hands: TT7

  Now this framework, as it currently stands, is useless unless we go on to take into account how our opponent plays. Let’s say the button is a calling station who never folds a pair on any street. Then our hand categorization might look like this:

  Bluffs:

  Value Hands: AA/KK/QQ/JJ

  Semi-Bluffs: AK

  SDV Hands: TT/99/88/77

  What if our opponent were a very tight and nitty player who gave action with only strong hands? Then our hand categorization might look like this:

  Bluffs: TT/99/88/77

  Value Hands: QQ/JJ

  Semi-Bluffs: AK

  SDV Hands: AA/KK

  Notice how as our opponent got tighter, our hand strengths changed dramatically. Against the calling station our AA/KK were pure value hands. We knew if we bet, that worse hands would continue. However, against the nitty player, AA/KK got shifted into our SDV category. If we bet the turn against the nit, we wouldn’t expect many worse hands to continue. Maybe the occasional AQ, but not nearly enough hands to make a turn bet worthwhile. And thus our hand got shifted from value, into SDV, because we want to get to showdown as cheaply as possible now.

  Of course, when we are playing in real-time we will only have one hand to categorize, the one we actually have. We want to put it into the correct category for the purpose it serves:

  7 Placing TT here is a bit arbitrary. But against a more liberal flop C-Range, TT can have SDV versus worse pairs and/or draws. Lower pairs, like 77-99, become bluffs due to them pushing more combos towards pairs that beat them and also their lessened equity against drawing hands like KT.

  Bluffs. Hands with no real value. We can bet if we will get a fold enough of the time to show an outright profit. Otherwise, we should usually just check and cut our losses.

  Value Hands. Hands that have direct value. If we bet, worse hands will continue enough of the time to show an outright profit.

  Semi-Bluffs. Hands that are behind almost always, but have solid equity. We can bet these when we will get folds enough of the time, and usually when we won’t face a raise.

  SDV Hands. Hands that would probably win at showdown, but wouldn’t get worse hands to continue anywhere near enough of the time if we bet.

  Once we are able to categorize hands correctly, postflop begins to play itself quite easily. We simply figure out where our hand lies against our opponent’s logical range and C-range, and create a profitable line. While this may seem incredibly simplistic, it is the baseline of optimal play, and thus why it is so important.

  The Other Side Of The Coin

  While SDV can help us plan our hands and lines postflop, it can also help us when we are playing against our opponents. If our opponent understands and practices SDV, then we are able to take more correct lines against him. This is why playing against spastic players can be so difficult. Spastic players who do not understand SDV will bet in spots where a logical player would check. This creates situations where we might get involved in bigger pots with less nuttish hands, something we wouldn’t normally do versus more straight forward opponents.

  Let’s take an example where the CO open-raises, we call on the button with 99, and we see a heads up flop of T33. He bets half pot and we call. The turn is a K and he bets half pot again. The CO is an aggressive 15/13 TAG over 600 hands, with an ATS of 39%, a CB of 71%, and a TurnCB of 60%. We also have a note on him that he understands SDV. A player understanding SDV usually makes their betting ranges fairly polarized on the turn and river. They would bet their strong hands (AK/AA/TT/43), would bet their bluffs/semi-bluffs (76s, QJ, 22), and would check their bluffs they are quitting with and SDV hands in an effort to get to showdown (JJ/T9/QQ).

  We see he has a solid FlopCB%, and a fairly high TurnCB%, and also know he wouldn’t bet certain hand types (the SDV hands). Because of this, we can assume we are ahead of a fair chunk of his range. We also know he is smart and that he would use the K as a barrel card. We also know this is a positional pot which makes for more aggression and less density in strong hands. Everything coupled together with us getting 3:1 makes calling a good idea if we know he won’t triple barrel with bluffs often (unless we are planning on calling the river as well). Again, we utilized the concept of SDV, both in our hand (trying to get 99 to showdown in the cheapest pot possible, thus why we didn’t raise) and in our opponent’s hand (figuring out his betting range). This can help us easily create lines that keep pot sizes favorable to our own hand strengths.

  However, problems can arise when we get into pots with players who don’t understand SDV. Their misunderstanding, or complete ignorance, of the concept changes the way we approach them, both in terms of planning our hand, and in the pot sizes we create with certain hand strengths. For instance, say we have 99 on the button and call a raise from a P-Fish from MP. We see a HU flop of 774. They bet and we call. The turn is a Q and he bets again. While a player aware of SDV might bet AQ/AA/76 and check TT/66, a fish most likely doesn’t understand SDV. So he might bet the entirety of his range, might bet only the strong stuff, or possibly a combination of both. Usually the more aggressive they are the wider their betting range is. And the more passive they are, the stronger their betting range is.

  So we can’t rely on this player’s understanding of SDV turning his range face-up. Instead, we have to use his actions, the logical hands he would take those actions with, bet sizes, board texture, etc to come up with our line. While it is much easier if we know a player has a polarized betting range (which players that understand SDV tend to use on the turn/river), we don’t have that luxury against fishy players. Because of that, we have to use other information to come up with more optimal lines. We are also forced to sometimes create bigger pot sizes than we would normally create with hands, and our line selection becomes more blurry as our hand strengths change from strong to mediocre.

  While it may not seem like it, this section wasn’t written just to discuss the complexities of playing 99 with a sliding hand strength. The point was to discuss how line selection and hand strength evaluation changes with our opponent’s understanding of SDV. Be aware of players who understand SDV and use it against them. If they are constantly trying to get to showdown as soon as possible with certain hand strengths, then consider running a large bluff. Or if they treat TPTK as a SDV hand, then we know their betting range is 2pr+ or bluffs. The more information we have on our opponent’s and their mindsets, the more profitable we will be.

  11. Continuation Betting

  Continuation betting (CB) is one of the most necessary skills in our postflop game. Having a solid CB strategy will make us very difficult to play against. One of the biggest leaks that micro and/or small stakes players have is either CBing too little (less than 55%), or CBing too much (more than 80%). This chapter aims to cover the composition of a good CB and simplify the complexities of this profitable bet.

  The Mindset

  The standard hand in full ring tends to go like this: Player A open raises, Player B calls, a flop comes, Player A continuation bets, Player B folds, and Player A wins. Of course, the games are maturing so floating and bluff raising are becoming more prevalent, but the majority of hands still fall into the raise/CB/win action. Because of this, we want to understand which flops are
good for attacking, and also how we want to go about attacking them.

  Like always, we care more about our opponents and their actions than we do about our own hand when continuation betting. For instance, say we open raise from EP, just a very tight setmining villain calls from the button, and the flop comes AJ2r. We know the button’s calling range preflop was something like 22-QQ, and if we look at how often that range hits a set on a flop of AJ2r, we see it’s about 10% of the time.