Strategy Soundbites from Bart on 2+2 Podcast: Recent Episodes
Bart Hanson
Originally created for the 2+2 PokerCast, these 60 seconds long nuggets of poker strategy offer some very helpful tips.
This refers to the pot odds that you are giving your opponent and is very important when the pot gets big and effective stacks are small at the end of a hand.
Slowplaying can be correct in bloated pots in 3bet for 4bet pots because you may only have 1 or 2 pot size bets left and the money can still get in.
When studying for your game spend your time on the situations that are more common and not just outlandish spots that may rarely come up.
Consider the fees associated with small buy in tournaments some can be unbeatable. Your hourly may be higher simply sticking to cash if you have a positive win rate.
Using electronics at the table can be an extreme detriment to your ability to pay attention and gain valuable information.
While Pot-limit Omaha is a high variance game Pot-limit Omaha Hi-Lo strongly favors the skilled player and it can be very difficult for a bad player to even win in a single session.
Taking value own lines by check calling can be very effective against players that will value bet thinly.
Fast playing the nut flush can be the best way to maximize your value on a hand that is very commonly over slow played.
If you find that you are scared when getting your value bet called then you have probably done something wrong.
When you are facing a raise from your opponent it can often be an indicator of the strength of their hand.
When you make a big hand it can be best to “show” your opponent the size of the pot by using large denomination chips to bet with so that your large value betting will get called.
Don’t get lazy with your seat changing at the table. Moving to someone’s left or right can be a distinct advantage.
Sometimes playing in a less stressful game leads to happiness and better overall poker health.
A lot of times when a weak player leads into the preflop raiser his hand cannot stand a raise.
In capped games the more you win the more your image improves. When you have a lot of chips in front of you people get scared.
If your board looks like you are going low and you are up against a probable high hand that doesn’t show a pair you should value bet two small pair.
Because the bluffing frequency in live games is generally low, you can take rather exploitative lines for maximum profit
You want to take the line that has the least amount of chance of having your opponent fold when you have value and the most when you have a draw.
It is important to make players that are at the table welcome in the game so that they enjoy themselves and come back.
When players raise small over several limpers usually this is indicative of a “pot sweetener” type of hand not a strong one.
In general limp reraising is a weak play for value as it folds out a lot of worse hands that would have called a single raise.
Most of the money won in poker is by beating losing players. That is where you should concentrate most of your effort.
A lot of players do not want to play large, limped pots. This creates a situation where you can attack the right board textures.
Sometimes you can not barrel a good turn card and risk less by waiting until the river, if your opponent checks at the end.
When playing against opponents that do not exploit your tendencies, playing exploitative in live poker usually wins the most money.
Running the cards multiple times does not change the EV of a hand, only the variance. Bart hesitates to run in more than once in Hold’em games to prevent players from calling light or making moves on him with draws.
It’s important to pay attention to the distribution of flop suits when trying to evaluate if your opponent could have made a backdoor flush on the river.