If you are going to play online poker and multi-table in order to increase your per-hour win-rate you'll be using a Heads Up Display (HUD). Novice players should read our Using a HUD While Playing Online Poker article, while players that are more familiar with a HUD should take a look at our Using a HUD to Make Decisions in a Hand article.
In this article we'll use the hand replayer and couple it up with both our HUD stats and the handy "Range Exploration" tool inside the popular freeware program Pokerazor. With these tools we
are going to examine some flop textures to see how your hand holds up with particular flops against certain opponents.
HAND 1:
Hero Has: Kd Qs
Action: You make a raise from the cutoff. The small blind is a 34/11 player and flat calls.
The Flop: Ac - 6d -3s rainbow. The villain checks.
The Question: Against this type of player where do you stand at this flop and how smart is a cbet?
When we plug in the villain's range into Pokerazor we see that the range of hands he's playing includes literally all Ace hands, all pocket pairs and just about any two broadway cards. With
this flop our hero has nothing but this looks like a great traditional cbet spot.
What we see though is that a player with this type of range is playing any Ace, and if they are, they are very unlikely to fold to a cbet in this spot. After pressing the "calculate" button we
see that the villain has top pair or better about 39% of the time and an underpair 10% of the time. Usually these types of villains stick around for one street with any sort of pair
which accounts for 65% of his potential hands at the flop. Looking at the hand strength distribution tab we are given the note that our hand is best only 44.6% of the time.
So, while many would have thought that this type of flop was a perfect cbetting spot, it turns out it's not at all against this villain. Let's take a look at the hand played out.
HAND 2:
Hero Has: Kd Qs
Action: You make a raise from the cutoff. The small blind is a 16/13 player and flat calls.
The Flop: Ac - 6d -3s rainbow. The villain checks.
The Question: We've done everything the same but this time we're against a much tighter player. Versus this type of player where do you stand at this flop and how smart is a cbet?
This villain has a much more defined range which definitely includes a lot less Ace-whatever type of hands. Even so, with his hand range he has top pair or better about 40% of the time
plus an underpair 23% of the time meaning that he's probably not folding to a cbet 63% of the time. Not a good spot at all to be in. Unless you spike running Kings or Queens or backdoor
into a straight you can't be certain that a King or Queen on the turn or river gives you the best hand.
HAND 3:
Hero Has: Ac – Jd
Action: You make a raise from the cutoff and are called from a 34/11 player in the big blind.
The Flop: Kd – Qd – 4h. Villain checks.
The Question: What is your situation here against the villain and should you be willing to cbet?
This time our loose player who is playing that huge range (that includes any Ace-whatever type of hand) didn't hit his Ace (if he had one). Through Pokerazor we see that sets + two pair +
overpair + top pair hands equal to about 23% of his hand strength distribution. If you wanted to even include 2nd pair hands that's an additional 15% to raise it to 38% of hands
he's calling (or raising) a cbet with. Even though our hand is best 45% of the time here, given the villain's hand strength distribution this flop is fine to make a cbet with.
HAND 4:
Hero Has: Qc – Jd
Action: You make a raise from the cutoff and are called from a 18/11 player in the big blind.
The Flop: Kd – Ad – Th. Villain checks.
The Question: What is your situation here against the villain and should you be willing to cbet?
The good news is that you have a pair as well a backdoor flush draw and an open ended straight draw. The bad news is that your tight player might have outflopped you. Hands that have you
beat include sets and straights which account for 15% as well as two pair hands which account for 14% of hands, as well as overpairs for 4% and top pairs for another 16%. Add that up and your
opponent has you outflopped 50% of the time and probably isn't going anywhere. There's a lot to be determined in the hand so this is one of those situations where you need to read your gut on
the opponent. There's merit to betting since this is a 50-50 situation essentially to find out where you are at as well as take advantage of any potential fold equity.
SUMMARY:
- By using the hand replayer, Pokerazor, and your HUD stats you can really re-create some interesting situations and
get your friends to weigh in on their opinions of proper play.
- With air you shouldn't think (as weird as it sounds) Ace high type of flops.
- Don't be afraid to experiment on your own, you might find some interesting things with difficult situations to make
them a lot easier.
Read Related Playing Specific Situations Articles:
In this article we'll look at some hands from my hand histories at low stakes, specifically $0.50-$1 No Limit Hold'em (both 6max and Full Ring) and also give HUD stats of the villains and see
how that might affect our thinking in terms of making a decision.
